


Reforming the Shattered

by Dev0ted



Category: Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal
Genre: Akira and Ryuji are best friends, Akira helps Sumire and Sumire helps Akira, Angst, Betrayal, Canon Divergence, Depression, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Let Sakamoto Ryuji Say Fuck, Occasional fluff, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, Suicidal Thoughts, Then get worse again, Things will get better, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:35:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 200,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26228026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dev0ted/pseuds/Dev0ted
Summary: Akira Kurusu just wanted a normal life with his hometown friends, but after a chance encounter with a truly awful man, he lost everything.Sumire Yoshizawa had always lived in her sister’s shadow and was tired of it all, but now her sister is comatose and she is an outcast.Now they must endure similar treatment from those around them, but perhaps they might find hope within the darkness and piece together their fragmented souls.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Kurusu Akira/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Persona 5 Protagonist/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi
Comments: 167
Kudos: 231





	1. A New Place

_“_

_ “Wait, he really did that?” _

“Ngh…”

_ “Dude, just stay away from us…” _

“Please...”

_ “I never imagined that he would be a criminal.” _

“Stop...”

_ “Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused us? You’re no son of o-” _

“No!” Akira’s eyes shot open, sweat dripping from his face and onto the train car’s floor as he shakily stood above his seat. He was breathing heavily, his eyes darting around the train as he remembered where he was and a pain he was too familiar with appeared in his chest. Seeing the other passengers were blurry, Akira blinked away the tears and sat down on his seat, clutching loosely at his chest. Wiping away the sweat, Akira closed his eyes and grit his teeth. He hadn’t had an outburst like that in a while, so it took awhile for him to calm his heart.

Opening his eyes, Akira dragged his phone out of his pocket and tapped aimlessly on it. A distraction was what he needed, and this was the only solution. As he scrolled through his phone’s apps, Akira felt the stares of everyone on the train, but he continued tapping at his phone; the staring didn’t bother him anymore.

“What do you think happened?”

“Who knows, but that scared the shit out of me.”

“Probably a nightmare.”

Akira ignored the comments from the passengers as he let his hands fall onto his thighs, staring emotionlessly at the ground. He tried to focus on the tiled floor of the train, succeeding in keeping his mind empty and unthinki- 

His hands twitched slightly, and panic rushed into his eyes; the last thing he needed was this. Before  _ those _ memories could resurge, Akira drew out his phone again and swiped over to his only social media app. The blue lighting from the screen calmed his nerves, his body taking some time to relax once again.

The silent train ride passed peacefully, with Akira staring blankly at the ground, completely motionless. He would have loved to move around to keep his mind clear, but he neither had the room nor energy to do th-

He broke out of his daze when people began walking off the train and he noticed the scrolling words above the door:  _ “This stop: Shibuya. Next sto--” _

Akira didn’t finish reading as he hastily got to his feet and, grabbing his sole black bag and swinging it over his shoulder, stumbled out of the train just as the doors closed behind him. Finding his footing, Akira looked around and felt his chest tighten as his senses were bombarded with foreign sights, sounds, and smells. His breathing hitched as he looked around at the towering buildings all around him, feeling like an ant in a rainfore-- 

_ You’re lost… _

_ Everyone here is the same… _

_ Just give u-- _

Akira tore his eyes off the crowd and tall buildings and lowered his gaze, his heartbeat slowing down progressively. He shook his head roughly, blinking away the beginnings of tears from his eyes and took a step forward, being pushed to the ground.

“Hey kid! What the hell are you doing?” A man shouted at Akira. 

_...in the way… _

_...a nuisance... _

His head began pounding and his breathing quickened, but Akira got to his feet to face the middle aged man, who was scowling at the teen. “You gonna apologize for just standing there, punk?” 

Akira blinked at the older man, his face expressionless. 

_ You’re just in the way… _

_ Stop being a nuis-- _

“Sorry,” Akira mumbled, throwing his hands into his pockets and turned on his heels. He heard the man spit on the ground as he began shuffling down the street, eyes downcast. As he walked towards a large crosswalk, Akira felt a dull pain coming from his knee and looked down to see blood soaking into his ripped jeans. His expression remained static as he looked back up, ignoring the injury.

Approaching the crosswalk with a slight limp, Akira pulled out his phone to double check what train he needed to take. ‘Yongen-Jaya…’ Akira moved his eyes slowly away from his phone to locate the station he needed to go to. However, as he began to walk towards the station, Akira felt his phone vibrate in his hand. Looking down, he noticed a strange app appear over his screen; it was a black and red eyeball with a star in its center.

“The hell?” Akira muttered, a frown forming. Never before had he seen an app do something like this, and Akira felt a chill run throughout his body as he stared at it. Going to delete it, the app grew in size, covering most of his screen. Akira tapped it twice, but nothing happened. No app should work like this, but Akira found himself shaking his head and slipping his phone into his pocket as he began to walk towards the station to Yongen-Ja-

The pedestrians around him were slowing down as if they were machines. Akira looked around rapidly as the people around him came to full stop, even if their feet were off the ground. His entire body suddenly felt heavier, as if a bag of rocks were dropped on his shoulders. ‘What the hell is happen-’

_ “Akira…” _

Akira’s eyes widened; if the people around him weren’t frozen, he would have thought he misheard someone, but-

_ “Akira.” _

The teen shot his head over towards the large crosswalk in front of him, the wispy voice becoming clearer, and his heart skipped a beat. Giant blue flames were erupting from the ground, but the people around it remained unharmed. In silent awe, Akira stared at the blue fire as a red, wicked grin formed within them and, for just a couple of moments, Akira saw himself… with yellow eyes? 

_ “Release it, Aki-” _

The people around him began walking again, the world returning to normal as Akira stood in stunned silence. The thing in the flames… it was him. 

Akira shot his right hand up to his head as a rush of pain shot through it, stumbling backwards a few steps. Seeing himself in blue flames shook him to his core, but the mirage’s, or whatever it was, eyes… his stomach was churning just thinking about it. 

Before disappearing, they turned black. Akira barely saw it happen, but there was no mistaking it. All Akira could feel while looking into those eyes was -

A small amount of pain shot through Akira’s free hand, and he realized that his nails were digging into his palm. His entire body was shaking, with his heart nearly beating out of his chest and his vision was blurred. ‘You were just imagining things,’ Akira tried to convince himself, taking a shaky step forward. He pulled his phone back out again for navigation and to calm himself down, feeling his heart slowly return to normal as he approached stairs going underground. Finding his way to the train station towards Yongen-Jaya, Akira kept his eyes plastered on his phone, scrolling through his social media app. 

The ride was entirely uneventful, with only a few stops before Akira had to get off. Looking around the station then back down at his phone, Akira began walking towards where he would be living for the next year. As he walked through the winding neighborhoods, Akira’ chest tightened. The houses were practically on top of each other, and large apartment complexes lined the streets; it was overwhelming.

He bit the inside of his cheek, lowering his eyes once again as he finally found himself in the shopping district of Yongen-Jaya. The only things he knew was that the man that was taking him in for the year was named Sojiro Sakura and that he lived around this area, so Akira had to drudge around the small district until he finally found a house at the other end from where he came in from with Sakura’s name engraved on a plate beside the gate.

A pit formed in his stomach as he rang the doorbell beside the gate and waited for anyone to let him i-

_ He doesn’t want you… _

_ He’ll just throw you out just like them… _

_ Why would anyone want yo- _

Akira’s eyes widened as a massive amount of pain shot through his head, and he stumbled backwards away from the gate with his right hand shooting up to grip his pounding head. Breathing heavily, Akira attempted to calm himself down, to force his mind away from his past, but --

_ “We didn’t raise you to be a criminal, Akira…” _

_ “How could you betray us like this? Do you understand the pain you’re putting us through because of your actio-” _

“Looks like no one’s home… Oh right, he’s at Leblanc right now, so I should go deliver this next package,” a man behind Akira muttered to himself, and the teen froze. The man, who Akira could barely see out of the corner of his eye to be a delivery man, didn’t seem to take notice of him and, after a few seconds, the man moved out of Akira’s peripheral. He released the breath he was holding in before pinching his left arm. His mind was swirling, but he pinched himself even harder until the dull pain straightened it.

‘Something about Leblanc,’ Akira forced himself to begin walking, the tightness in his chest dissolving into a simple discomfort, and found himself back on the main alley. He felt people’s gazes on him once again as he walked down the alley, looking down the branching alleyways for the cafe.

“Who’s that kid?”

“I’ve never seen him before…”

“His leg is bleeding!”

Akira shook his head as he continued on, desperately wishing he had his headphones to drown out the noise. However, he could only continue to walk down the alley, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a building with the words “Cafe Leblanc” over the glass door. He trudged down the smaller alley, stopping directly in front of the glass door and reached for the handle. A knot formed in his stomach as he could see three blurred figures within the caf-

_ He’ll throw you out… _

_ Just like th -- _

Akira gripped the handle with a shaky hand and forcefully opened the door, wincing as it swung open faster than he expected.

As Akira made his way inside, he saw an old couple sitting in a booth with a middle aged man with his hair slicked back reading a newspaper in a chair at the counter, unaware of his entrance. He also took in the scenery of the interior; it was a small but comfortable looking cafe, with three booths set up in a row opposite of the counter. Akira felt a strange feeling wash over him, his entire body relaxing as the tension he felt earlier seeping out from his should-

“...did say that was today,” the middle aged man said gruffly, looking directly at Akira and breaking the teen out of his thoughts. The elderly couple stood up and turned towards the man.

“We’ll be going now. The payment’s on the table,” the old man stated, and the black haired man turned towards him.

“Thanks for coming,” he replied curtly, and Akira began to lose focus again as he stared off into space. However, as the elderly couple passed by him, the owner of the cafe turned his attention onto Akira, and Akira’s eyes focused.“So, you’re Akira?” the man asked, a stern tone in his voice. Akira simply nodded; talking wouldn’t help, he knew that. The man’s eyes narrowed at the raven haired teen before shaking his head, returning his face to a neutral position. “I’m Sojiro Sakura. You’ll be in my custody over the next year.” Sojiro paused to look Akira up and down, stopping briefly as he stared at the scrape on Akira’s knee and the blood soaking into the teen’s jeans. As he continued to move upwards, Sojiro finally stopped again at Akira’s eyes and his own widened. “I was wondering what sort of unruly kid would show up, but you’re the one, huh?” Sojiro rhetorically asked before letting out a sigh and turned around. “Follow me.”

Akira followed obediently, head low and hands in pockets. As they reached the landing, Akira’s eyes widened at the sight of a messy attic. He felt the drastic change in feel between the two levels of the cafe; it was cold and hostile up here, with dust and junk scattered around the room while below the lighting was warm and comforting. A heavy looking box sat in the center of the room with Akira’s name neatly written on the side, and Akira felt a slight amount of relief knowing that he still had some of his possessions from home, but it did nothing to ease his mind about the room.

“This is your room. I’ll at least give you sheets for your bed,” Sojiro said as he semi-turned towards Akira. Akira simply nodded; he just wanted to be alone. “It’s on you to clean up the rest. I’ll be leaving after I lock up each day, so you’ll be alone at night. Don’t do anything stupid, or I’ll throw you out without a second thou-”

Sojiro paused as Akira winced, but the teen bit his cheek as he continued staring at the ground. “I got the gist of your situation from your parents. You stepped in between a man and woman having an argument and attacked the man, causing him to get injured and got sued.” Sojiro paused once again, but Akira didn’t let himself falter again. “Behave yourself for the year, and if nothing happens, the probation will be lifted. Then you can return to your old life, alright?”

Akira nodded slowly, his eyes beginning to glaze over; the man was telling him things he already knew, and a small headache began forming. Sojiro coughed into his hand, getting Akira’s attention before letting out a sigh. “We’ll be going to Shujin tomorrow. There’s rarely a place that’ll accept someone like you, you know. What a waste of my Sunday…” Sojiro sighed again before motioning towards the cardboard box in the center of the room. “Your 'luggage' arrived a little while ago. I brought it up here for you.” With that, Sojiro nodded curtly at Akira and went downstairs, leaving the teen alone with his new, cluttered room. 

Standing in the middle of the attic, Akira turned around slowly and moved the box in the middle of the room into an open spot on the shelves near the stairs. As he did so, a dust cloud was kicked up, causing him to go into a fit of coughing. Gritting his teeth, Akira opened up the box and searched for his headphones, eventually locating them at the bottom of his things. They were an old pair of over the ear headphones, but they did their job. 

“Thank god,” Akira plugged his headphones in, his favorite piece beginning to pla- 

_ His friends’ shadows loomed over him, their backs turned as they began walking aw- _

Akira turned up his music, feeling his shoulders ease u-

_ “He’s a criminal now? I never expected th-” _

His eyes darted around the room and fell on the junk scattered around, and Akira began cleaning.

After three hours passed and with the attic fully cleaned, Akira let out a sigh as he collapsed on the bed, his music still playing loudly through his headphones. He felt completely, familiarly, wiped, with no energy to do anything else. His eyes began falling, and he felt himself begin to lose conscious-

“Ah, so you were cleaning!” Sojiro exclaimed, causing the teen’s eyes to shoot open as he got to a sitting position. The man looked around the room, bringing his right hand to his chin as he shook his head approvingly while Akira shook his headphones off. “This place doesn’t look half bad, especially with all that junk out of the corner. I was suspicious when you asked me if I had any spare bags, but it seems you can actually be trusted.” Akira closed his eyes, fighting back a headache as he continued to feel Sojiro’s stare on him. He barely heard Sojiro huff before he went back downstairs and heard the bell ring, signifying that he was alone in the cafe. Staring upwards, Akira layed down on the bed, letting his eyes fall slow-

His hand shot up to his head, intense pain threatening to split it open. “No… not again… Just let me forget...” Akira pleaded through gritted teeth, tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he put his headphones back on and blasted his music, but it was to no avail.

_ Trying to help that woman put you in this position… _

_ She wasn’t even thankful… _

_ That man will p- _

Akira’s entire body was shaking, sweat pouring from his forehead and onto the bed. “Dammit…” Akira loosened his grip on the sheets and brought his right arm up slowly to wipe his tears away, with no more falling afterwards. Taking a few deep breaths calmed his heart back down to a normal rate, but his chest still ached and he had a pounding headache. ‘Why? What did I do to deserve this?’ Akira brought his legs up to his chest, still gripping his head with his right ha-

_ “You’re a… criminal now?” His best friend, Goro Abe, stuttered over the phone. Akira had just explained what had happened to his entire friend group, but they all immediately believed the court’s decision and turned their backs on him.  _

_ “I’m not! I already told you all, I did nothing wro-” Akira began, shouting over the phone. _

_ “Then why did the court say you did?!” Fear broke through Goro's voice. Akira’s entire body stilled while sitting on his bed, and he unconsciously gripped his sheets with his free hand. _

_ “So you don’t believe me?” Akira whispered, trying to calm himself down but his vision was progressively getting blurrier and his breathing more shallow. He could barely hold up his phone anymore, his hand shaking violently. Tears began streaking down his face as Goro stayed silent. “Just like mom and dad… you’re just the same!” Akira shouted, throwing his phone onto his bed as he felt himself shatter on the inside. _

Tears threatened to return again, the kind blue eyes of his best friend turning cold within his mind, and he ripped his phone out of his pocket as his breathing became irregular. 

“Stop… shit…” Akira pleaded as he clumsily handled his phone, searching through it for any a-

“What’s going on? I deleted this…” Akira shook his head, staring at the black and red eyeball app from earlier. A chill ran throughout his body as he stared at it, but the sudden distraction had calmed him down. He shook his pounding head, deleting the app once again.“Whatever, it doesn’t matter anyways.”

Laying back down on the bed, Akira felt his eyes begin to fall. He sluggishly began charging his phone, and his eyes finally fell completely.

The next moment, he woke up, only not in his bed in the attic and not laying down. Instead, Akira found himself chained to a blue wall by his wrists and ankles, with barely any room to move around. As his eyes focused, Akira saw that he wasn’t in the attic any longer but some sort of prison cell. It was a small cell, with only a metallic toilet right to his left and an iron bed to his right, and he felt instantly sick. 

“What the hell…” Akira whispered, his own voice startling himself as it echoed around the room, and he felt his blood chill as he heard… laughter coming from directly in front of him. He weakly raised his head, that simple action taking extreme effort, to see two girls, barely reaching up to his knees, standing in front of the bars blocking the entrance of his cell. Despite their tiny appearance, Akira felt chills run down his spine as they glared up at him. Their gazes were nothing like the ones he received from his former friends; they were cold and hostile, and he felt his chest tighten up. Despite his fear, he tried to move closer towards the vertical bars separating him from the girls, but the chains held him back, stopping him after not even a step forward. 

‘Dammit… what’s going on?’ Akira looked down to see himself wearing ripped, dirty prison cloth-.

A snap was heard overhead, and the chains connecting him to the wall lengthened, causing him to stumble forward until he found his footing. Akira looked up to see the two girls step aside, and let out a gasp as he saw a pasty old man sitting at a table in the center of the room. The thing that stuck out the most to Akira was the man’s insanely long nose and his eyes that were nearly popping out of their sockets, and the creepy smile the man held sent chills all throughout his body.

Akira stumbled forward and grabbed hold of the bars, staring directly into the man’s creepy gaze. “Trickster… Welcome to my Velvet Room,” the man said simply, reaching his right hand forward towards Akira. More questions spun in Akira’s head, but the two girls in front of him, now facing towards the old man, turned their faces at Akira.

“So you’ve come to, Inmate,” the one on Akira’s right spat, the spit landing on Akira's feet. ‘Inmate?’ 

“The ‘You’ in reality is currently fast asleep,” she said simply.

‘Me in reali-’ Akira managed to hold himself up as a splitting headache shot through his head, with his legs nearly gave out and he gasped for air, the room beginning to swirl around him.

“You’re in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!” The girl on the right commanded Akira, slamming her baton onto the ground. Akira complied, feeling as though he could collapse at any minute.

“Welcome, I am delighted to make your acquaintance,” the man spoke, his deep voice echoing. “This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter.” The man leaned nonchalantly on his left hand, his right tapping the desk in front of him. “I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well. I summoned you to speak of important matters, of which involve your life as well.”

‘My life?’ Akira’s mind raced, his body feeling slow as if filled with sand. His attention was brought back to Igor as the man looked around the room, causing Akira to do the same. There wasn’t anything comforting within the circular room; it was cold and dark, and the chains rattling out of sight didn’t help Akira’s nerves either.

“The state of the room reflects the state of your own heart,” Igor began once again, an almost amused tone to his voice as he stared deep into Akira’s eyes. “You are truly a prisoner of fate, but I did not expect things to be this severe. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.”

Akira flinched at Igor’s words. ‘This can get worse?!’ ran through his mind, looking downwards as his body felt heavier at the man’s words. “I never suspected you to be in this state, but no matter. To avoid this ruin, you must be 'rehabilitated'. Rehabilitated towards freedom… That is your only means to avoid ruin.”

“Wha...what?” Akira breathed out, his vision blurring as the room began to spin. His head felt like it was splitting open, and he nearly lost his grip on the bars.

“Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation,” Igor chuckled, ignoring Akira’s struggle before motioning to the two girls in front of Akira. “Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. They serve as wardens here.”

“Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like,” the one on the right said, her baton behind her back.

“The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators,” the one on the left mentioned, a clipboard underneath her right arm. “...That is, if you remain obedient.” As Akira stared at the two, he felt their gazes grow more hostile and he froze in fear, the nausea he felt still causing him to sway.

“I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion,” Igor spoke, Akira only able to move his eyes back onto the man. “Now then, it seems the night is waning… It is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually…” Akira’s breath hitched as an alarm blared around the room, and he let go of the bars in shock.

“Time’s up, now hurry up and go back to sleep,” the girl on the right demanded. Akira began to panic as his vision began darkening, and he lunged forward, gripping the bars again.

“Wait, this doesn’t make se-” Akira began before his legs gave out, collapsing onto the dusty floor and losing consciousness. Then, the next moment, he was back in his bed. Opening his eyes slowly, Akira had to block out the intense sunlight pouring in from the window right above his bed as he groggily sat up. 

“A dream..? It couldn’t have been… It felt too real,” Akira muttered as his eyes adjusted to the bright light from outside as Akira reached over for his phone. He still felt a slight amount of pain in his head as he turned on his phone. 

‘7:00 am?’ Akira sighed, dragging himself up and throwing his headphones onto the bed. As he changed into his school uniform, Akira saw the cut from the day before; it had already started forming a scab, dirt and blood mixing together. Akira finished changing, his eyes wandering back to the ground as he sat onto the bed.

His vision became unfocuse, his hand barely gripping his phone as he waited for Sojiro. ‘Velvet room… Igor… what the hell was that all about?’ Akira’s mind raced, the cold gazes of the wardens sticking in his mind along with Igor’s unblinking stare. The fear he felt from the wardens had passed, but Akira remembered how threatening they were. ‘If I see them again, don’t get on their bad si-’

“Looks like you’re up,” Sojiro sighed from the landing of the stairs, causing Akira to weakly bring his head up. Sojiro shook his head and moved forward towards Akira; the teen noticed that he was wearing a pink dress shirt with a white suit coat over top and a white trilby with a red and blue band circling it. While he knew the older man disliked him, Akira couldn’t help but think highly of Sojiro’s sty-

Akira bit his cheek before gritting his teeth; thinking like that would only bring him pain later on. Sojiro didn’t seem to notice the teen’s struggle, or if he did he didn’t care as his stare remained the same. “Well then, let’s go introduce ourselves properly to the staff about your transfer. I’ll give you the details about how to get there later, but today I’ll drive you there.” As he finished, Sojiro huffed, turning around and began walking towards the stairs. “Sheesh… men aren’t usually allowed in the passenger’s seat.”

Sojiro walked downstairs, Akira following closely behind and they exited Leblanc. Akira shook as they walked a few times; it was the middle of April, but today was cool outside. Akira enjoyed the cold as there wouldn’t be many people out, and today was no different as the walk to Sojiro’s car showed. Approaching the car, Akira saw Sojiro glance over at him, looking like he wanted to say something, but Akira kept his head down. There was no point in trying to communicate; there never was.

As they entered Sojiro's car, Akira kept his headphones on, listening to some jazz music. Akira enjoyed the genre a lot, finding it to help ease his mind. He had loved it ever since he was a child, his father playing it in the car nonst-

Akira’s nails dug into his thighs, blinking away the dull pain as he stared down at his phone. He swiped aimlessly through his social media app as he focused on his music, ignoring his rapid heartbeat. He turned the music up, trying in vain to ease his nerves. Akira couldn’t place what was eating away at him, and he realized too late what was going on as another headache be-

“Alright, we’re here,” Sojiro announced just loud enough so Akira could hear, the teen perking up to see Sojiro out of the car. Akira slowly nodded, pulling his headphones down around his neck as he began climbing out of the car.“Leave that damn thing in here! I don’t want you looking like even more of a criminal!” Akira resisted the urge to grit his teeth, throwing his headphones into the car and shut the door forcefully.

‘Just do as he says.’ Akira stuck his hands in his pockets, anger thickening his throat. He swallowed back his feelings, keeping his eyes locked onto Sojiro’s feet as the man began walking. ‘I can’t do anything else but do as he says.’ Akira kept his head down as he obediently followed Sojiro, the anger he felt earlier lingering within his chest. It took Akira a few seconds to steady his breathing, but did so before Sojiro could notice his behavior. 

Akira barely took in his surroundings as he and Sojiro approached the gate to the school, but he felt uneasy, his body beginning to tense up. 

“Do me a favor and behave yourself, all right?” Sojiro asked exasperatedly as they stopped, Sojiro turning around to stare Akira in the eyes. “Don’t get me wrong - I don’t care what happens to you. Just don’t cause me any trou--” 

_ Akira’s father towered above him, his usually soft and loving eyes hardened with disdain. “After what you did today, I don’t care what you do. Just don’t cause me or anyone else troub--” _

“Hey, are you listening to me?” Sojiro’s words shook Akira back, and the teen nodded. Sojiro huffed, turning around as Akira bit down on his cheek. The slight shock of pain brought him back completely as he felt the inside of his mouth bleed slightly, but Akira pushed his tongue against the wound as he followed Sojiro inside.

Inside the school didn’t ease Akira’s mind about the place anymore than outside; it seemed like a normal school with the floors being clean and the walls’ paint unchipped, but Akira couldn’t dispel the knot stuck in his stomach. Due to it being a Sunday, there was barely anyone in the school, but Akira could feel  _ something _ in the air. 

“Don’t say much, although I doubt you would,” Sojiro said, stopping in front of a door and turning towards Akira. Akira nodded, his mouth beginning to feel numb as Sojiro led him inside.

Immediately Akira was met with a comfortable looking room, warm lighting filling the room along with the windows. Before entering, Akira read that this was the Principal’s office, so he wasn’t surprised to see an overly obese man sitting at the wooden desk in the center of the room. It fit with his imagination of what all principals were like; his previous one was no different, minus the bald head. Almost as if he wasn’t there, the principal began speaking to Sojiro, and Akira blocked them out in favor of looking around until his eyes landed on a plant next to the principal. The strange feeling that had persisted in him ever since stepping onto the campus began dissolving, his shoulders relaxing as the knot in his stomach was finally dispelled. Since his false accusation, Akira had grown attached to plants, even taking care of one back home before coming to Tok-.

“To reiterate, just so we’re clear, you will immediately be expelled if you cause any problems,” the principal’s voice jolted Akira as the teen realized the fat man was facing him. “Honestly, I hesitated on accepting someone like you, but…” Akira realized that nothing new was being stated, so he moved his attention back to the plant. 

‘Wait, isn’t there a near dead one in the attic? Maybe I should buy some fertilizer…’ Akira thought, a slight amount of hope being rekindled within him. The thought of having a companion that wouldn’t leave him excited Akira, and suddenly he was excited to return to the ca-

“This is the teacher of your class,” the principal, who seemed unaware that Akira was ignoring him, caught Akira’s attention as he motioned over towards a black haired woman to his side. Akira had noticed her as they walked into the room, but taking a closer look he noticed she had bags under her eyes and looked exhausted.

“I’m Sadayo Kawakami,” the woman said, her voice sounding tired and strained. “Here’s your student ID. Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office. And, if by chance you cause any problems, I won’t be able to protect you.” Akira nodded slightly, feeling some irritation build up. Dammit, he knew that already!

Akira wanted to close his eyes and take a deep breath as the principal and Kawakami began speaking to each other, but he knew it would only draw unwanted attention towards him, so he looked back at the plant. Whatever they were saying, Akira figured it didn't involve him. He just needed to survive in school, and after having to finish out the year branded as a criminal and shunned from everyone, he had adjusted to the lifestyle. Fortunately, their conversation didn’t last very long as Sojiro let out a sigh.

“If you’re done explaining things, mind if we get going? I’ve got a store to get back to.”

“Sakura-san, please keep a close eye on him,” the principal said with a frown. “Don’t let him cause any trouble outside…”

“Well, I’ll be sure to have a serious talk about the situation he’s in,” Sojiro responded, and Akira could hear the irritation in his voice and bit his tongue before he could think about it any further.

“Come to the faculty office when you arrive at school tomorrow. I’ll show you to your classroom,” Kawakami finished the meeting and, with a bow, the two left the principal’s office and walked towards the entrance of the school. Akira had never felt so glad to leave a place, even the police office after his arrest. However, as they approached the glass doors, Sojiro stopped and rubbed his neck head while sighing.

“They’re treating you like some kinda nuisance…” Sojiro continued rubbing his neck, voice tired and annoyed.

“I’m used to it,” Akira muttered in response; it's not like Sojiro didn’t do the same. 

“What did you say?” Sojiro asked. Akira simply looked back down at the ground, his eyes glazing over.“I was gonna lecture you to stay on your best behavior, but you seem to already know your situation. Let’s head home.” 

The ride back to the cafe was slow and filled with silence, halfway to how Akira wanted it to be. Akira had his headphones back on and was playing some jazz music, but decided to keep one ear off just in case Sojiro said something. The last thing he needed was Sojiro lecturing h-

“Traffic’s not moving at all…” he groaned, his voice jolting Akira slightly, and he pushed down his headphones, dreading the interaction. “You’re taking the train starting tomorrow.” Akira stared at the car directly in front of them; he was going to do that already, wasn’t he? “So how was it? The school, I mean. Think you can manage?”

“Yeah…” Akira responded, forcing out the one word. He just wanted the conversation to end already.

“‘Yeah’, huh?” Sojiro muttered. “If that’s what it’s gonna be like at school, people might start saying things about me. What a troublesome kid I’ve taken in.”

Akira lowered his head and gripped his knees slightly. Sojiro wouldn’t understand what he was going through; no one would.

“A subway train has derailed, severely affecting the timetable across all of-” the radio played, Akira lifting his head again.

“Another one? So that’s why it’s so crowded lately. There’s been a lot of those lately. In fact, there was a real sad one just last month before you came here. If I remember correctly, a fifteen year old girl was hit by a truck and is now in a coma. It’s a damn miracle she survived, but her parents must be…” Sojiro trailed off. Akira blinked blankly at the car in front of them, lingering on what Sojiro just said. So he would feel bad for a person he never met, but not m-

Akira’s nails dug into his knees, wincing as pain shot through his injured knee. Thankfully, the conversation was over, so Akira slipped his headphones back on, playing his music louder than before.

“Damn, to think there’d be that much traffic… What a waste of time. I wasn’t even able to open the cafe today,” Sojiro groaned as he and Akira walked into Leblanc, turning towards Akira. “Geez, did you really not take care of that scrape yesterday?”

Akira looked up at Sojiro, his eyebrows raised slightly. Did Sojiro actually care? “Go clean up there and put a band-aid on; I can’t have you miss school cause you got an infection. I don’t want my reputation getting any worse,” Sojiro’s gruff explanation picked at Akira, and his face dropped once again. ‘Of course not. How stupid am I?’ He limped past Sojiro, wincing as he cleaned out the dirt from the wound and applied a large band-aid to the affected area. He knew that no one cared about him, so why was he so ready to think that Sojiro would? Moving back out from the bathroom, he rolled back down his pant leg and Sojiro got to his feet from sitting at the counter. 

“Go upstairs, I’ve gotta give you something,” Sojiro commanded curtly, and Akira simply turned and trudged upstairs, his body feeling heavier with each step. Akira kept his head down as he reached the landing, turning around as Sojiro made it up as well. “Talk about a gruesome accident… Eighty people were involved,” Sojiro muttered before slipping his phone back into his pocket and grabbed something else. Akira recognized the new item as a pocketbook as Sojiro held it up in the air before he threw it on the desk adjacent to the staircase. “You may be under probation, but there’s no special limitation on what you do in particular, besides following the law, that is. However, I’m obligated to report on you, which is why I’m having you record your daily activities.” Just then, a buzzing sound was heard from Sojiro’s pants, and he swiftly pulled out his phone and answered immediately, leaving Akira with his thoughts

He had never used a journal before in his life, never finding a use for one. But now, it seemed like he was being forced to write in one, filling him with a strange sense of dread. Akira knew that he wasn’t going to get into any trouble; there wasn’t any point to. However, the idea of recounting the coming torment hung in his mind. He looked around the attic, and his eyes fell on the near dead plant. ‘Shit, I’ll have to pick some up tomorr-’

“Well, I’m off. I’ll lock the place up, so do whatever you want for the rest of the night,” Sojiro cut off Akira’s thoughts as he slipped his phone into his pocket. “Oh, but don’t mess up my store. If something goes missing, I’ll hand you right over to the cops.” 

_ Akira’s father stood by the edge of the kitchen, staring daggers into his back as Akira grabbed his breakfa- _

Akira balled his hands into fists, his fingernails finding their way into the crevices made before, pain shocking his mind back to the attic.

He could feel the cold gaze of Sojiro on him, and he straightened himself back up. “You’ve got school tomorrow… You better head to bed, all right?” Sojiro said, giving Akira a curt nod before heading downstairs and Akira heard the door open and close. Finally alone, he shuffled towards his bed, pulling his headphones back up onto his head. However, before he could turn on his music, a distant ringing reached his ears and since it wasn’t coming from his phone, Akira moved towards the stairs. He just wanted to be left alone, but this actually proved helpful as another headache began. Akira reached the yellow payphone and picked it up, not sure who to expect on the other end.

“Hey, it’s me,” came Sojiro’s voice on the other end; he should have expected that. “I forgot to flip the sign to 'Closed' when I left, so could you do that for me?”

“Got it,” Akira replied, fighting back a yawn as he heard Sojiro sigh on the other end.

“I’m actually glad you picked up,” he informed Akira; another feeling today they shared, if only for different reasons. “It’s a personal policy of mine not to save a guy’s number in my phone. Anyway, I’ll let you go to sleep now. Remember to flip over the store sign for me.”

Static was the only thing that followed as Sojiro hung up, and Akira put down the pay phone and turned towards the door. Despite himself, he was thankful for the distraction and after flipping the sign outside, Akira made his way back upstairs. Akira fell onto his bed and pulled out his phone, studying the route he would have to take to get to Shujin.

‘More news about the accident,’ Akira thought as a notification popped up at the top of his screen, and he quickly swiped it away as he moved to plug in his phone for the night. Perhaps a few months ago he would have cared about it more, but he was a different person now. ‘It’ll probably affect the timetables for tomorr-’ 

Akira’s thoughts were cut off as the weird eyeball app not only was back, but was also pulsing on his screen. He would have thought more about it, but Akira was exhausted and his mind was nearing it’s limit, so Akira shook his head as he deleted the app one last time and plugged in his phone, setting it on the windowsill beside his bed. He laid his head down on the pillow, his headphones shifting and making his ears uncomfortable. ‘This is my life now, huh?’ he thought idly.

_ Sojiro was leaning on the counter with a piece of paper in his hands, staring straight through Akira before pointing for the door. _

Akira grit his teeth; Sojiro was just like everyone else, waiting for an opportunity to throw him away. He was in a new place and was expected to start over, but his situation was the exact same; no one would believe him, so there was no point in trying to open up to anyone.

This was Akira’s fate, falling asleep with tears rolling down his cheeks, his shattered sense of trust, the dull pain coming from his knee, and his music being the only things keeping him company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, new work here! Yes, this is another retelling, but I have a lot of plans to make this unique and different from the base game. Anyways, thank you all for reading, and here's to another journey beginning!
> 
> Huge thank you's to Doq and Proxy from the Church of Kasumi discord for beta reading this; I felt like I improved so much already just from their critique and bouncing my ideas off them, so again, thank you's to them!


	2. A Brush with Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I revised this chapter, so before you click away I would greatly appreciate if you would read through it again! Chapter three is coming along well, but I won't give a release date for it.

“Just cloudy…” Akira muttered as he held up his phone, a small frown creasing his face as he reached to the side for the windowsill, grabbing the middle of his headphones and wrapped them around his neck. Akira swung his legs off the bed, the old wooden floor creaking under his weight. 

‘I didn’t have that dream again… was it really just that? A dream?’ Akira pondered, Igor’s creepy gaze staring back at him as he began changing into his school uniform. Lazily slipping on his blazer, Akira walked over to railing near the stairs and reached for his bag.

_“In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.”_

Eyes widening, Akira stumbled backwards, his head feeling as if it were about to split apart. He managed to find his footing in the middle of the attic, his vision shaky as Akira gripped his pounding head. He tried walking forward towards the railing, but his legs would barely move. Akira closed his eyes for a brief moment, taking in a deep breath.

The headache subsided almost as fast as it came, Akira’s body recovering at the same time. He opened his eyes and stared unblinking at the ground before shaking his head.

Pulling up and plugging in his headphones, Akira took a final breath before taking a step towards the stairs. His music began playing, and Akira’s clenched fists loosened at his sides as he made his way downstairs. There remained a knot in his stomach as he took slow steps, his eyes downcast. ‘I should pick up some fertilizer today,’ he thought, a faint smell reaching his nose as his feet hit the floor of Leblanc. The thought of caring for the near dead plant brightened Akira’s face as he walked towards the do–

“Hey!” Akira froze, Sojiro’s voice breaking through the music. The teen desperately didn’t want to have an interaction with the man, his hands threatening to ball up into fists once again as he thrust them into his pockets. However, he could feel the sharp glare from Sojiro on him, threatening to skewer straight through him. Akira grit his teeth and took another step forward, but...

He stopped, shaking his headphones off and looked at Sojiro.

“Geez… took you long enough,” Sojiro grunted, his hands folded over one another. He looked irritated as Akira figured, but the smell that reached Akira earlier became more prominent and he finally saw the plate in front of Sojiro.

“Curry?” Akira couldn’t stop himself from muttering, looking back up at Sojiro. The cold gaze remained the same, but Akira noticed something different in the man’s features. Maybe it was his imagination, but Sojiro’s face seemed so–

“Your breakfast,” Sojiro replied curtly. Akira looked back down at the plate, and his stomach rumbled loudly. He had barely eaten since arriving in Tokyo, only getting something at the konbini the two days he had been here, so he hadn’t realized how hungry he had been. The savory smell coming from the curry flooded his nostrils as Akira sat down, keeping his head down as he picked up chopsticks laying next to the plate and took his first bite.

It was delicious. The curry was perfectly spiced, and the complex flavors filled every part of Akira’s mouth as he proceeded to shovel the entire plate of curry down his throat. The pain from biting his cheek and tongue so many times rushed back as he ate, but he fought through it. It was as if he was a wild animal tearing through his prey, his eyes wide with hunger as his chopsticks flew from his mouth to the plate. 

It was only after his chopsticks hit the plate that Akira realized what he was doing. He let the chopsticks fall from his hand and onto the now clean plate, his eyes wide as he stood up slowly. 

“Heh, you seemed to like that,” Sojiro chuckled, but Akira kept his head down as he reached for his bag to the side. His heart was beating faster, with his eyes wide as he spun towards the door.

_“C’mon Akira, let’s go get some curry! It’s really good, I promise!” Goro shouted, halfway down the path and waving back at Akira. The black haired teen grinned before breaking off into a sprint, chasing after his group of frie–_

Akira’s hand rushed down onto his thigh, the small but sudden pain sharpening his focus. Why couldn’t he just forget? Why couldn’t he just move on?

“Flip the sign for me, okay?” Sojiro called out, his voice higher than normal. Without turning, Akira nodded and reached for the door. Without any words spoken to the man, Akira left Leblanc, turning over the sign and began walking towards the nearest station. Music swirled around his mind, the buttery-smooth voice of the singer keeping Akira’s body lax as he shuffled down into the subway, stopping at the platform.

Waiting for the train was something Akira truly hated, he found, as he shifted his body’s weight from foot to foot. He reached for his phone and turned his music to the maximum volume, his chest tightening. The train was set to arrive any moment, but each second felt like an eternity as Akira closed his ey—

Stares. Akira felt each and every person around him staring directly at him. A couple of people staring at him he could handle, but this… this was different. 

“Look at that criminal.”

“Isn’t that a Shujin uniform? How did someone like him get in there?”

“Who knows, but he’ll just be thrown out.”

Akira’s eyes shot open. Everything was swirling around him as his mind felt like it was being torn to shreds. Hundreds of people were rushing around him, standing by for the train, or simply talking to their friends. Akira’s head was on a swivel as he looked around, only to find that the people’s gazes were anywhere and everywhere.

Anywhere but him.

Akira looked back down. He wanted to scream, to let out the dark feeling bubbling within his chest, but doing so would only bring more eyes on him. Forcing the lump that had been building up in his throat down, Akira brought in the cold air through his nostrils as his open blazer flew to the left, a mass of grey shooting past him.

Never before had Akira been so grateful for a train, but as he shuffled onto the packed train his body progressively loosened and his foggy mind began to clear. He let out a sigh as his shoulders sagged, but his newfound respite from the world was short lived as he was squeezed into the corner of the train car.

His skin began to crawl as he watched the people around him. They were paying him no mind, but the moment he looked away their eyes would be back on him. He kept his eyes open, scanning the sea of people on the train, but their gazes were still elsewhere. Was he just being paranoid? Akira shook his head; he knew they were judging him, they were mocking him. 

His body lurched forward as the train began slowing down, and the people around Akira shuffled towards the doors as it came to a stop. Akira scanned the faces of the people closest to the door in an attempt to distract himself; they were mostly businessmen and women, a good amount of them being on the younger side. It made sense; with the eldest generation getting to the point of retiring, more business jobs would be going to younger people. However, despite being obviously young, Akira noticed each of their faces were aged. Wrinkles plagued their skin along with noticeable bags under their eyes. They almost looked like the undead portrayed in movies and television shows Akira used to watch.

The door to the train opened, and the tired people shambled out, dragging their feet with a dead-eyed stare and only strengthening Akira’s zombie comparison. The work culture in Japan was brutal, he knew, but this seemed to be a bit too much.

Akira shook his head violently as he walked off the train, practically getting dragged by the crowd around him. For the briefest moment, he felt a spark in his core, a feeling trying to rekindle itself and his face softened. What that feeling was he wasn’t sure as Akira turned up his music, the previously soothing jazz music now blasting in his ears, and whatever was beginning to form in him was buried once again.

Darkness covered his face as he walked past a smoothie stand and a shelf full of job pamphlets, the rush of the crowd never dying down around him. Akira slowly climbed up the stairs to the outside, a dull light meeting him as the brisk, spring air filled his lungs. After a brief second to allow his eyes to adjust, Akira looked around, and his blood chilled. The tall buildings looming in the distance, the endless stream of people walking all around him; it was too much as he felt despair wrap around his heart and began squeezing.

‘I just want to go home…’ Akira’s mind burned as he forced his body forward, becoming part of the crowd. There was no such thing as ‘home’ anymore, at least to him; he had nothing, nowhere, and no one. The realization slammed into him like a bowling ball into his back as he stumbled forward, nearly falling to the ground if not for the wall he almost ran into. Feeling the cold concrete, Akira blinked twice as he regained his bearings and looked upward; the Ginza Line was right next to him. He wasn’t entirely sure how to feel. He was relieved that he was out of the open as he walked up the stairs, but at the same time utterly exhausted. The day had barely begun and his body already felt like it was about to give out any moment. 

The wait for the train began once again as Akira shambled up to the crowded platform, hands stuck in his pockets. He struggled to keep his eyes open, but Akira wasn’t going to leave himself vulnerable again. While tapping aimlessly on his phone, Akira finally caught people staring at him; two teens wearing the same uniform as him, a short male with smooth hair and a female of similar height with short, brown hair. His music was still blasting in his ears, but he could see their mouths moving as they continued sneaking glances over at him. 

_“He’s that criminal?”_

_“Doesn’t really look the part, does he?”_

_“We should still steer clear of him.”_

Akira’s face darkened into a scowl, their imagined words bouncing around in his mind. Once again, he felt something brewing deep within him as a growl formed within his throat. He let this feeling bubble within him as his gaze pierced through the teens, heat spreading throughout his body and threatened to burn him from the inside.

The two teens finally noticed Akira staring back at them, and the burning sensation suddenly cooled into a pleasant rush of warmth as they averted their eyes. He felt the corners of his mouth tug, trying to force themselves upwards, but a rush of wind messing with his disheveled hair and the train entering into his peripheral vision forced his attention to the slowing train.

Miraculously, Akira found a seat on the near full train right by the door. The warmth throughout his chest was still spreading throughout his body as he nearly let his eyes fall, but he saw the two teens out of the corner of his eyes. Their eyes told him everything he needed to know as they kept them anywhere but on him: they were scared. Scared of him. 

_They all abandoned you, and yet you still feel pity?_

He never wanted this. Never wanted to be labelled a criminal, never wanted to find joy in terrifying others. But, this was the hand he drew, so if he was going to survive, he would have to play it well.

As the train came to a stop, Akira’s body felt heavier. Each step he took felt more strained as he approached the tunnel out of the station, like he was dragging cinder blocks behind him.

“Rain?” Akira muttered. The sound of rainfall broke through Akira’s music, and as he passed through the gates of the subway he saw the downpour. 

Akira didn’t pack an umbrella for the day, but he hardly cared as he collapsed his headphones into his bag and took his first step out into the cold rain. There were students underneath overhangs and running past him, some with umbrellas, but Akira walked. The rain splashing on his face, the sound of droplets splashing in newly formed puddles; Akira’s body loosened, and his scowl faded. He loved the rain.

Cars were zooming on his right, students huddling underneath buildings on his left as Akira walked through the downpour. Raindrops were splattering on his fake glasses, but Akira simply wiped them away with his right hand. The rain drops hitting him chilled his body, but inside he felt warm. No distractions, no people around him; just his music and the rain. 

As he neared an alley to his left, he stopped feeling the therapeutic tapping of the rain on his body and the warmth that originated in his chest dissipated as he let out a sigh. The students taking cover began moving once again, a slender figure walking into a car not too far ahead of him. “Whatever…” Akira groaned as he took a step forward.

His entire right leg began shaking. Akira froze in the middle of the sidewalk as he put his weight on his left leg. His stomach felt like it was doing somersaults as the hair on his arms stood straight up as he pulled out his phone. The shaking stopped as he looked down, but his face was stuck in a state of confusion.

The app was back.

He was looking at what seemed to be a normal voice recording app, but the strange red and black colors from the app swirling in the back told him that it was anything but. 

_“In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.”_

Sharp pain shot through Akira’s mind, his eyes widening before stumbling backwards.

“Dammit!” Akira was knocked forward, nearly falling on his face. 

“Screw that pervy teacher...”

As he turned, Akira saw who his assailant had been; a blonde teen wearing a Shujin uniform, his blazer unbuttoned just like Akira’s. The teen wasn’t paying him any mind, his eyes instead following the car Akira took note of earlier. 

Akira shook his head before turning around. Getting involved would only be a detriment to him, so he turned and took a step forward.“Dude, after running into me you ain’t even going to say anything?” the blonde nearly shouted at Akira as a hand fell on his shoulder. “Wait a minute, you go to Shujin too?” Akira’s blood began to heat up as he ripped his shoulder out of the blonde’s hand. His steps forward were shaky and heavy; physical contact made him sick. “Hey, wait up!” The blonde ran out in front of Akira, stopping centimeters from his face. Akira’s grip on his phone tightened as he took a step back, but the blonde took another step towards him. “Are you gonna say anything? Or what, you on Kamoshida’s side as well? That bastard’s acting like some king of a castle–”

“Move,” Akira growled through gritted teeth, beginning to walk past the blonde. The churning in his stomach was telling him to get out of the interaction immediately, so his face contorted and twisted into the darkest scowl he could muster. It seemed to work as the blonde stood still, stiff as a board as Akira passed. However, just as his stomach was calming down, a wave of nausea hit him, sending his hand up to his head. 

“Dammit… I wanna go home…” the blonde’s voice behind Akira sent a shot of dull pain through his head. He missed the rain.

“So wait, are you a Shujin student?” the blonde ran up beside Akira and slowed to match his pace. Akira kept his eyes forward, both him and the blonde turning into a dark alley leading to the school. If he couldn’t be alone, he would just ignore the blo–

“I’ve never seen you before, but we’re both second years. You a transfer student?” 

Akira had never felt this irritated in his life.

Teeth gritted, Akira continued through the alley, the blonde now finally shutting up. He could handle people just walking around him, but this level of interaction? Akira’s head began to pound, splashing through a puddle accidentally. His entire body threatened to seize up as a tingling feeling spread throughout his body. ‘Dammit, keep moving Akira!’ He didn’t want to give the blonde any reason to speak to him, so with his nails pressing into his palm, Akira took a forceful step forward, propelling him out of the alley.

“Huh?” Akira’s voice barely reached a whisper as he stopped dead in his tracks. Where the school should have been stood instead a medieval style castle, towers rising high into the sky. 

“The hell?” The blonde’s voice snapped Akira out of his trance, and he looked over to see him also staring up at the castle. “We didn’t take a wrong turn, did we?”

Akira couldn’t believe his ears. Did this guy seriously believe any of this was remotely normal? 

_...Ruin…_

His head erupted in blistering pain. Akira grasped his head feebly, stumbling onto the building to his left for support. Igor and the twin wardens were in front of him, blurred and shaky, and Igor reached out towards Akira, eyes piercing through him mixed with his creepy grin.

“...okay, man?” Akira blinked twice, his arm against the brick wall of the building. The blonde was right next to him, leaning down to look into his eyes. A high pitched ringing sound blared in his ears Akira stumbled forward out into the street running parallel with the school, 

It didn’t surprise him as the blonde quickly rushed to his side. He seemed to be stuck with the guy for the time being, and scaring him wouldn’t cut it, so Akira let out a sigh as he straightened himself.

“So, what the hell is a castle doing here? How long does it take to build a castle anyways?” the blonde asked. 

“I can’t believe I’m stuck with you…” Akira grumbled into his hand as the two walked up the staircases. The blonde looked over at Akira and tilted his head.

“What was that dude?”

“Nothing.” A slight pang of irritation shot through Akira as his hands twitched slightly, but his body suddenly felt extremely heavy. 

“Dammit, my body ain’t movin’ too hot right now! Did I sleep weird last night?” A weird castle replaced the school, both of their bodies suddenly and mysteriously felt weighed down, and the blonde was still trying to rationalize this? “Well, might as well try the doors here.”

 **“Stop, intruders!”** a distorted voice called from both sides of Akira. 

“What th–” The blonde’s voice cut off as Akira spun to see him slump to the ground, the next moment blackness began to cover his eyes.

“...ey! Hey!” 

“Urgh…” Akira groaned as he stirred in his sleep. His eyes slowly opened and a shiver ran throughout his body as he sat up. His back was screaming at him, and his head felt like it was filled with lead.

“You’re finally up… You good man?” Akira looked up to see the blonde kneeling in front of him, his brown eyes full of concern.

“Yeah, my head hurts tho–” Akira’s eyes shot open. He forced himself to his feet and pushed past the blonde, his entire body beginning to shake. He didn’t need anyone worrying about him, so why? Why wouldn’t this guy leave him alone?

Heavy footsteps echoed in distance, the sound of metal against stone coming closer. ‘Some kind of dungeon?’ Akira stumbled past some barrels lining the dirty walls and nearly collapsed in front of the exit to the cell, gripping the iron bars to keep himself up. He peered out, and felt a burning sensation in his mouth as his curry threatened to come back up. Water was rushing down the middle of a moat with iron cages hanging over it, and Akira could taste dust and dirt in the air. 

“H-hey, did you hear that scream earlier?” the blonde broke the silence.. He was still knocked out at that point, so of course he didn’t. His hands began shaking as the heavy footsteps grew louder, and he saw movement out of the corner of his eyes.

Three people wearing armor came from Akira’s left with swords and shields in their hands, marching in unison before clicking their heels together as they stopped in front of the cell. Akira released the bars as he stared at the people’s faces, his stomach dropping. They were wearing pale masks, but instead of straps to hold them up, the masks were connected with the rest of their body.

_Ruin awaits you…_

Akira’s right hand shot up to his head as his legs buckled. His friends, family, everyone was looking at him in disgust. Their eyes bore into his soul, and he felt himself shatter, each piece landing harmlessly on the ground.

 **“Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon. Your charge is ‘unlawful entry’, thus your punishment will be death,”** the closest man in armor declared. 

“Say what?!” The blonde shouted as he stumbled backwards.

“No one’s allowed to do as they please in my castle.”

Akira’s eyes shot back towards the three armored people, and his eyes widened as the shaking ceased. A black haired man was approaching the cell, and the three men in armor stood aside.

“Kamoshida?!” 

Akira looked between the blonde and Kamoshida. It was clear that the blonde had history with Kamoshida, as his previously fearful eyes were now mixed with confusion and hatred.

“I thought it was some petty thief, but it was just you, Sakamoto. Oh, I see you brought along the criminal transfer student, how quaint.” Kamoshida stopped in front of the bars, and Akira’s blood began to run cold. “I suppose I can take two pieces of trash out at the same time.” Akira’s chest tightened as the blonde looked over at him, feeling the judging eyes from the other teen, but he kept his eyes trained on Kamoshida. Something was swirling inside of him, the same feeling that emerged after scaring off those teens. It felt like at any moment Akira could catch fire due to the burning rush he felt throughout his body, but deep down… he enjoyed it.

The hatred felt good.

“W-wait, what’s going on?” Sakamoto stuttered as the front soldier unlocked the cell, stumbling backwards as the four marched in. “Urgh!” The soldier closest to Sakamoto thrust it’s shield into his abdomen, sending him to his knees as he grabbed his stomach. Kamoshida reached down and gripped the blonde’s collar, spit trailing down his chin as he was forcefully brought up to eye level. 

“You goddamn peasant!” Kamoshida’s free hand balled into a fist as he struck Sakamoto across the face multiple times, laughing as blood flew from the blonde’s face with every strike and splattered onto the ground.

_You’re useless._

_No one wants to be friends with a criminal._

Akira stood there and watched, his eyes darkening as he watched Kamoshida slam his head into Sakamoto, knocking him to the ground. His heart steadied as he locked onto Kamoshida, and his hands twitched. He hated this man.

“What are you lookin’ at? You wanna die as well?” Kamoshida chuckled as he locked eyes with Akira. The teen didn’t respond, blinking slowly at the man. The condescending look in his eyes pissed Akira off.

_You’re not wanted!_

_Just leave us alone!_

Kamoshida sauntered towards Akira and leaned in close, his smug face mere inches away from the teen. Akira remained unblinking, his glare locked onto Kamoshida. “That look of yours irritates me!” Kamoshida reeled back and slammed his foot into Akira’s gut. Spit flew from Akira as he hit the wall, gasping for air as two soldiers flanked either side of him, pressing him against the wall. The fire within him was threatening to turn him to cinders from the inside out as every inch of Akira’s body felt burning hot.

_You’re no son of ours!_

_You betrayed our trust!_

“Now, back to you,” Kamoshida’s voice was becoming distant. 

**_Discarded_ **

**_Despised_ **

**_Thrown Away_ **

Akira’s body shook violently, the soldiers pressing him against the wall harder. It felt like a dagger was stuck in his brain as he opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. 

“After I’m done with you, I’ll kill that transfer real slow. No one’s gonna miss him anyways,” Kamoshida’s voice was becoming distant, but each word felt like another blade through Akira’s mind.

**_You have nothing, no one._ **

**_You are truly alone in this world._ **

His teeth clamped together hard, his body thrashing against the soldiers’ hold on him. He _knew_ that, dammit! And why was his body so damn hot?

**_What will you do?_ **

**_Will you lay down and die…_ **

**_Or will you stand and fight?_ **

“Tch, kill him!” Kamoshida commanded the soldier holding Sakamoto up by the collar. Bruises were forming on the teen’s face, blood running down his face mixed with his tears. The soldier’s broadsword was directed at the teen’s throat, Sakamoto stopping his struggling altogether, his arms and legs going limp.

“Enough,” escaped Akira’s lips, spit rolling down his chin as he glared at Kamoshida. 

The room went silent.

Kamoshida locked eyes with Akira as his entire body went cold, the previous flames being snuffed out.

**_That look in your eyes…_ **

**_Perfect._ **

“Hmph, want to die that badly? Fine,” Kamoshida waved at the guard, who promptly dropped Sakamoto. Akira felt his fake glasses fly off his face as cold metal slammed into the side of his head. He didn’t make a sound as he straightened himself, blood spilling from his nose as the two soldiers previously holding him back now had their swords at his neck. The third soldier approached Akira and raised it’s sword, ready to kill him. A low rumble of chuckles escaped from Kamoshida’s mouth as the soldier’s blade swung down for Akira’s head as the teen closed his eyes. 

Waves of air spiraled out from Akira, slamming into the soldiers and throwing them onto the ground. A low, demented laugh echoed around the room as Akira lifted his face, a dark grin pulling at his lips and a birdlike mask covering his face.

**_If you wish to destroy them, call my name and release thy rage!_ **

Akira’s eyes sharpened as they landed on Kamoshida as he and his soldiers found their footing. “Kill him now!” Kamoshida roared, the soldier closest to Akira began running towards the teen.

His entire body still felt ice cold as Akira reached up for the black and white mask. Wrapping his hands around it, heat began spreading through his body once again, becoming hotter and hotter as he pulled. Pain exploded throughout his body along with the rekindled flames, but to Akira, they felt great. The soldier that was supposed to kill him was nearly upon him again, the broadsword hurtling for Akira’s head as he stopped pulling.

“Arsene!” Akira roared, gripping the middle of his mask and ripped it off. Blood splattered from his face and onto the ground as the fire within Akira flared around him, sending the looming soldier onto it’s back as insane laughter echoed around the room. The flames licked at Akira’s skin and clothes as Akira’s eyes turned yellow before being engulfed as well. Akira’s heart raced as chains rattled all around him and he heard a low voice let out a demonic laugh. The flames lifted into the air, but Akira’s body still felt hot. He locked onto Kamoshida’s face and soaked in the terror and fear on the man’s face.

“What… what the…” Sakamoto stuttered, on the ground and with his arms in front of him.

Akira couldn’t hold himself back anymore; the anger, fear, and hatred that had been building up for the past few months was finally being released.

Akira gripped his right hand, feeling a slick handle being wrapped around, and his eyes darted over towards the prone soldier. In an instant, he was in front of the soldier and thrust the razor sharp knife into its face. 

“Attack!” Akira shouted, ripping his knife from the soldier's face, black blood spouting from the wound as a flash of red came crashing down, puncturing the soldier's chestplate. Akira let out another rumble of laughter as he looked up at the creature floating above him; the demon cloaked in red with a top hat filled Akira with a sense of familiarity, it’s pulsing eyes emanating anger and hatred as it ripped it’s pointed legs out of the soldier.

“Wh-what are you two doing? Kill him now!” Kamoshida roared, his voice breaking as the soldier underneath Arsene exploded into black blood, some hitting Akira as he and the demon… no, persona, turned towards the remaining soldiers as they began compulsing. Their arms and legs twisted and pulled out of their sockets, a snap coming from them as their torsos fell forward. Akira twirled his knife in his hand, his wicked grin never leaving his face as the two soldiers folded into themselves, a splatter of the black blood going everywhere as their bodies morphed into two imps with carved pumpkins for heads carrying burning lanterns.

The demon closest to Akira lunged forward, the lantern rattling on the small chain as it came hurtling towards him. Akira shot his right leg out, dodging underneath the flame as the pumpkin continued flying overhead. He swung his outstretched leg around, kicking up some dirt and turning his body completely to face the pumpkin demon. Flipping his knife in his hand, Akira kicked off the ground. Just as the demon turned back towards Akira, his blade tore through it’s small body, the head flying and splattering against the wall of the cell while the body fell to the ground, disappearing into black blood and dust. Akira’s boots echoed around the cell as he landed, twirling his blade darkened with the black liquid as his evil grin widened. He loved this.

“One do–” Akira began to turn around, but the other pumpkin demon was already at him. His torso burned as the lantern smacked square in his chest, fire engulfing his chest. More dust was kicked up as Akira slid backwards, the fire dying down as quickly as it started. His eyes locked onto the demon as it floated in the air, his vision sharp as it spun before hurtling towards him. 

“We’re playing like that, huh? Arsene, Eiha!” Akira roared, his blood boiling as the lantern came hurtling for his head now. Akira stood still as the flames neared him, grin widening as a dark, pulsing ball of energy slammed into the pumpkin demon. A pained screech filled the room as the black energy engulfed the demon, stopping as the pumpkin hit the wall right above where Kamoshida was curled up, the energy ball exploding the demon and leaving nothing behind. 

“Oh shit…” Kamoshida looked terrified as Akira slowly walked towards him, a ball of the black energy within Arsene’s hand. Akira’s blood was still molten hot, his eyes locked onto the terrified man; he was going to enjoy th–

“Take that, you piece of shit!” Sakamoto shouted, sweat flying off his face as he stared down at the man he had just tackled. Akira’s face twitched slightly as he stared at the blonde, but he shook his head; Kamoshida was trying to get to his feet, and a wave of exhaustion hit Akira.

“I’m out of here,” Akira’s voice was deep as he walked towards the keys to the cell, Arsene disappearing in blue flames as the white mask reappeared on his face. Kamoshida tried to lunge for the keys as Akira calmly walked over to them, but Akira simply kicked him in the face before reaching down and picking them up. A wail could be heard from Kamoshida as Sakamoto ran out the cell, Akira following suit and locking the cell. Another chuckle escaped his lips as he threw the keys into the rushing water.

“Dude, what the hell was that? And… when did you change clothes?” Sakamoto asked. Akira looked down at himself. It was true; he was now dressed completely in black, a stylish ankle length tailcoat covering a gold accented waistcoat. All in all, it wasn’t a look he hated. Mysteriously, his knife was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t drop it while fighting, and it wasn’t anywhere on his body.

“You sacks of shit! You’ll pay for this!” Kamoshida erupted, slamming his hands into the bars with his teeth bared. Sakamoto flinched backwards, but Akira stared into the man’s eyes before flashing another evil grin.

“Have fun down here,” Akira let out a laugh as he turned and began strutting down the stone pathway, with Sakamoto following close behind.

“Dude, where the hell are we going?” 

“Out,” Akira replied curtly, slipping into an open cell. His heart was still racing as he crawled through a hole in the wall, his face twitching as the demonic grin threatened to return. 

Akira’s eyes were focused as he stood back up, dusting himself off before running over a drawbridge near where he emerged, Sakamoto following close behind him. There were no guards around, or at least as far as he could tell, so he continued sprinting on. As the two approached an opening in the wall, Akira pulled Sakamoto down behind a pile of barrels and crates.

“What the he– mphm,” Sakamoto began, but Akira’s hand shot over his mouth. He ignored the blonde’s struggling as he stared through an opening in the makeshift wall. The clinking of armor rang throughout the dungeon, and Akira saw two soldiers running on the opposite side of the moat. A hot rush flowed through his body as the soldiers continued running away, and Akira’s eyes widened as he nearly shot out from the cover after the soldiers. Survival came before self-satisfaction, no matter how much he wanted to feel that rush again.

“Damn dude, I thought you were about to choke me out there…” Sakamoto groaned as Akira let go of him. Akira’s eyes darted onto the blonde, willing as much venom into the glare as possible. Thankfully it worked as Sakamoto froze, warmth shooting through Akira’s body before disappearing just as fast.

‘Wait, I wasn’t holding him back that much…’ Akira shook his head; he could think about that later. 

The opening led to a stairwell as the two teens ran up, Akira’s eyes and ears sharp as they neared the top. There was no clattering of armor on the other side of the door at the top, so Akira cracked the door open and slipped into another level of the dungeon. 

“Really? How big is this place?” Sakamoto groaned. Agitated could describe Akira’s state as he ran past some cells, but his focus didn’t break as his eyes continued darting over the moat; no soldiers in sight still. “H-hey, look!”

Akira stopped, taking a deep breath; doing this alone would be much easier. Several cells were suspended over the rushing water with prisoners trapped within. “It’s a dungeon, no shit there’d be prisoners here,” Akira responded before beginning to walk forward again.

“Dude, they're in our uniform though! What the hell are Shujin students doing down here?”

Akira closed his eyes as he continued walking. “Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Alright, the hell’s wrong with you? I remember hearin’ about a transfer student with a record, but shouldn’t you at least pretend to give a sh–”

Akira turned around, his tailcoat flapping behind him as he met Sakamoto’s eyes. “I'm moving on ahead, with or without you. If you want to save them so bad, do it yourself. ” His glare was more than enough to silence Sakamoto.

Akira began forward once again, heavy footsteps behind him signifying that Sakamoto was following. Despite himself, Akira desperately wanted to run into more soldiers. Ripping through those pumpkin demons just wasn’t enough for him.

“Hey, you two!” Akira flipped to his left as he approached a drawbridge, his knife materializing in his right hand as he readied it to strike. A high pitched yelp came from below, Akira’s gaze following the noise and Akira frowned. In the cell in front of him stood a monstrous cat, it’s head twice the size of its body. Even after encountering demon pumpkins and being engulfed in flames, this was the strangest thing Akira witnessed today. “Whoah, calm down there frizzy hair!”

“Dude, is that cat talking or am I going crazy?” Sakamoto asked, his eyes wide open and his jaw hanging low.

“Yes, I can talk and no, I am NOT a cat! My name is Morgana!” the monster cat jumped into the air, it’s cartoonish eyes closing in anger. 

“Shut up!” Akira hissed, turning around and closing his eyes. The sound of metal clanging in the distance met his ears, but he couldn’t tell which direction the soldiers were coming from. He couldn’t help himself as adrenaline began pumping through his veins, but he shook his head as he looked back at the cat.

“Please let me out!” Morgana demanded, pointing towards a key hanging on the wall perpendicular to the cell, and Akira couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Why the hell should I help you?”

“Because! I can help you! I’m locked up in here, so I’m clearly not one of them!” The sound of metal clanking grew louder, and Sakamoto jumping slightly next to Akira told him they were closer than expected. His lips twitched into a grin for the briefest of moments before returning to normal.

“Dude, what should we do?” Sakamoto asked. Akira let out a sigh as he walked past the blonde; if the cat was lying to him, he would just kill it. Grabbing the key Morgana had pointed towards, Akira kneeled down and, after fiddling with the lock, it clicked open.

“Freed–hrngh” Akira wrapped his left arm around Morgana’s giant head, covering its mouth.

“Jesus, does anyone know how to be fucking quiet?” Akira hissed, letting go of Morgana with a shove. It honestly didn’t matter that much to Akira because he was hoping for a fight, but the cat’s voice had the same effect as nails against a chalkboard.

“S-sorry…” the cat bowed its head forward as Akira stood straight up and turned back towards the drawbridge. 

“So cat, how can you help me?” Akira demanded, an air of restlessness falling over him as the sound of metal stopped. 

“I am NOT a cat, first of all! And secondly, see that statue over there?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Sakamoto chimed in. “It’s just some creepy statue of the bastard.” 

“You moron! I’m saying that it’s–”

Akira moved towards the statue. He reached down, and pulled on the mouth. 

“The hell?” Sakamoto shouted as a constant clicking sound rang above them as the drawbridge fell.

“At least one of you has a brain…” Morgana muttered. 

“Just shut up and keep moving,” Akira growled. Without waiting for the two, Akira began moving across the drawbridge, two sets of footprints behind indicating that they were following him.

At the sound of rushing air, Akira brought his knife up, meeting a broadsword just above his head. A grin formed on his face as he threw the soldier backwards. “Oh shit!” Sakamoto yelled behind him followed by a thud.

“It seems like you can fight, frizzy hair,” Morgana ran up beside Akira, a scimitar nearly the size of his body in his right hand. “Well, me too! Zorro, come to me!”

A flash of blue light came from Morgana as blue flames swirled around him and into the sky, forcing Akira to shield his eyes. The blue flames began to die down, and Akira looked up to see a beefy swordsman towering behind Morgana.

“You have one of those two?” Sakamoto shouted behind them.

“Here they come!” Morgana shouted as the soldier began convulsing and, just like the ones before, exploded into a black substance before reforming. However, unlike the other ones, two demonic creatures rose; the pumpkin demon Akira slaughtered before floated next to an impish monster, a spike protruding from it’s pelvic region.

Akira felt a wave of excitement rush over him as he reached up for his mask, the pumpkin demon flying towards him. “Arsene!” he roared, tearing his mask off as the pumpkin’s lantern shot for his head. A burst of blue flames surrounded him, and the demon was forced to stop as Arsene grabbed hold of it’s head. The demon let out a screech as Arsene threw it into the wall to the right, a crack forming in the stone wall as blood shot out of the pumpkin, but it otherwise remained unharmed as it ripped itself from the newly formed hole.

“Hmph, I knew you were an amateur. Watch this!” Morgana announced as Zorro waved it’s rapier in front of him. Akira’s tailcoat began flapping wildly as intense winds fell down and surrounded the pumpkin demon. Hundreds of cuts were made in the tiny demon’s body, its blood swirling around the miniature tornado. The pumpkin demon slammed back into the wall as the green energy dispersed, falling limply to the ground as Morgana turned towards Akira with a wide grin that Akira met with his own demonic smile. “That’s how you do it! You have to figure out the enemy weaknesses and exploit the– shit!”

Blood flew from Morgana’s cheek as the imp shot past him, its pelvis glowing a strange yellow color. The black cat kicked off the ground, his eyes focused on the demon as he slid to a stop next to Akira. Akira paused for a brief moment as his eyes widened. His body tingled as it began burning before he turned towards the pumpkin.

“Arsene, go!” Akira gripped his knife tightly and kicked off the ground towards the bleeding pumpkin. He was pissed seeing Morgana get hurt, and that very fact only made him more irritated. The imp’s pelvis began faintly glowing yellow again as it pulled back, but Akira slid forward underneath the pumpkin demon. As he slid to a stop, his left hand wrapped around a warm pistol as the cut up demon floated above him. Two shots rang through the otherwise silent dungeon, black blood splattering on the walls and Akira’s face as the pumpkin dissolved before even hitting the ground. Holstering the gun, Akira’s face twitched as his malicious grin widened for a split second, but he spun around towards the remaining demon. Arsene flew straight towards the imp, diving beneath it as its glowing pelvis shot straight for Arsene’s head. Pulling back it’s pointed legs, a flash of red shot through the imp. The dungeon was filled with a pained screech before falling silent once again, the blood from the demons draining away through the cracks of the dungeon floor.

“What… the hell was that?” Sakamoto’s voice was shaking as he stumbled forwards. Akira turned around as his mask reappeared, and the weapons he held disappeared. His heart was pounding in his ears as warmth rushed throughout his body. He wiped the black blood off his face, laughter getting stuck in his throat as he heard two sets of footprints approaching him.

“Interesting… I guess this proves my theory,” Morgana bounced towards the two teens, his scimitar nowhere to be seen either. A smug grin covered his face as he looked up at Akira.

“Tell me about it later, we need to go,” Akira interrupted, his boots echoing around the dungeon hall as he strutted up stone stairs, cells on either side of him as he reached the top. His eyes stayed straight ahead as he heard two sets of footsteps behind him, one much heavier than the other. Akira’s grin fell as he fell into his thoughts; the cat was certainly useful and seemed knowledgeable. If he ever came back here, he could use Morgana to get strong–

Akira shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as sharp pain shot through his head. He didn’t need the cat; he didn’t need anyone. 

Why did he get so mad when Morgana got hurt? 

The three approached another drawbridge, drawn up like the one before with the same creepy statue of Kamoshida next to it. Without hesitation, Akira strode up to it and grasped the mouth again.

“H-hey, I feel like I’ve seen what this dude’s wearin’ before…” Sakamoto yelped behind him.

“We don’t have time for these prisoners right now, blondie! The soldiers will be here any moment now!” Morgana shot back. 

It felt like hundreds of toothpicks were being jammed in his head as Akira pulled down the jaw of the statue, and the chains holding the wooden bridge up rattled as the bridge creaked down. If anything, the cat was right about one thing as a soldier rushed over the newly dropped bridge, the sound of his armor rattling around the dungeon.

“You should’ve listened to me…” Morgana groaned, Akira’s dagger and pistol manifesting in his hand and at his waist as the cat’s scimitar flashed into his right hand. The warmth rushed through him once again as he stepped forward.

“Whatever, let’s just kill these things,” Akira reached up for his mask as the soldiers burst, the black substance forming two fairys barely smaller than Morgana. The pain lingering in his mind faded as he tore his mask off, Arsene forming from the blue flames behind him and his grin dancing onto his face. “Arsene, Eiha!”

A flash of dark energy sped towards the fairy on the right, surrounding it as it attempted to dart around the attack. A sharp squeal came from the fairy followed by silence as the dark energy swirled in the air before shooting towards the center, crushing the fairy. Nothing was left of it as the energy faded into the stale air of the dungeon, the other fairy’s eyes wide with fear.

“Nice one, Frizzy Hair! Now it’s my turn!” Morgana scuttled forward on his tiny legs and leapt into the air. His scimitar fell out of his hand, disappearing midair as a giant slingshot appeared within his hands. Three pellets shot out from it, piercing through the remaining fairy’s head. “Finish it!”

Exhaustion mixed with Akira’s excitement as his head began pounding. As Arsene disappeared and his mask reformed, the pain vanished entirely, but Akira still felt himself growing tired. Akira only allowed himself a moment of confusion before letting out a chuckle, shooting forward towards the fairy. The fairy plummeted from the sky, blood spilling from it’s head as Akira slid underneath it, his hand shooting out and wrapping around its neck. 

“Die.” He felt a rush as he jammed his knife into the fairy’s core and ripped it downward, slicing it in two and sending its bottom half flying in an arc towards the ground.

“Was that it?” Akira let go of his knife and the fairy’s top half, both halves bursting into black blood and dust before hitting the ground as he turned towards Morgana. He felt… unsatisfied with that fight.

“Those shadows were weak, especially to your persona,” Morgana replied, his slingshot vanishing from his hands.

“Wait, personas? Shadows? Are those the giant monsters you guys summon and those things you were fighting?” Sakamoto asked.

“If that’ll help you understand it better, than sure,” Morgana let out a sigh, shaking his head. The cat opened his mouth, but Akira thrust his hands into his pockets while striding forward. 

Akira kept his eyes sharp as they passed more cells, but there weren’t any more soldiers in the area. It finally began to set in him that this wasn’t normal, especially the cruel way he was acting. Why was he even here in the first place? And why did it feel a lot like...

_Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation._

Akira’s hand shot up to his head; Igor’s creepy gaze flashed in his mind briefly followed by sharp pain. 

“Hey, you okay?” Sakamoto asked as the three approached a set of stairs. 

“Yeah, you don’t look so h-” Morgana began, but Akira slammed his foot down on the first stone step, leaving a deep crack in it. The two behind him said nothing else as Akira refocused ahead of him, climbing up the rest of the stairs. The air was quickly changing, becoming lighter as Akira saw a bright light coming from ahead. His body loosened as he entered into what seemed to be the foyer of the castle, a giant room with huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. 

“Hell yeah! Let’s get the hell out of here!” Sakamoto raced ahead of Akira and Morgana as they walked into the center of the giant foyer, running towards the doors towering over them. 

“That moron… Hey! Be quiet, or do you want to get killed?” Morgana hissed, bounding after Sakamoto as the blonde rammed into the ornate door, but it didn’t move.

“The hell? Why ain’t it budging?”

“They probably locked it, you moron. Come with me!” Morgana sprinted across the foyer, Akira keeping pace with him, and burst through a wooden door at the opposite side of the foyer into a small hallway with a door to their right and left. “This way!”

Akira kicked open the left door, Sakamoto and Morgana following him to see a small storage room. A chill ran throughout Akira’s body and he looked around the room; it was colder than the rest of the castle. 

“Where do we go now? It’s a dead end, you stupid cat!” Sakamoto flipped towards the cat.

“I am NOT a cat, and don’t you dare call me stu-”

“God, shut up!” Akira roared as the floor underneath him creaked as he flew through the air, landing on a large wooden shelving unit at the end of the room. The room went silent as he wrapped his hands around a cold air vent, and he let out a grunt as he ripped it off. Fresh air hit his lungs as the small air duct led straight outside, and Akira jumped down. 

He softly landed on the ground in front of some barrels and reached both hands into the air. “So, what do we do now?”

Akira spun around, knife in hand and pointed directly at Sakamoto’s face and his eyes sharp. “Wh-whoa, dude! Calm down there!”

“Well, the exit is right over there, so you two should go hurry,” Morgana, who was beside Sakamoto, turned back to the open vent before looking back at Akira. “Frizzy Hair, if you decide to come back here, I’ll be waiting.” Before Akira could respond, the cat leapt onto the nearby barrels and back into the castle.

“Man, let’s just get out of here… I don’t know what the hell is going on anymore,” Sakamoto groaned, rubbing the back of his head as he lumbered past Akira. The black haired teen had no choice but to follow Sakamoto towards the entrance. 

He would have to think more on today, especially the way he acted. He felt natural acting that cruel, slicing and destroying those monsters, but…

He nearly slipped and fell, stumbling forward as he gripped his head. However, as he tried to find his footing, he felt a slender hand push his right shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. 

“Are you alright?” A timid, feminine voice came from above Akira. He took a sharp breath in as he pulled away, ripping his shoulder away from the stranger’s hand and, with his vision blurring, he slowly moved his gaze upwards to see a sleek redheaded girl with glasses standing in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, back at it again! Don't really have a whole lot to say other than next chapter we will start seeing our favorite redhead, so be excited about that! I'm always grateful for you guys, and thank you all who left kudos and comments so far! It means the world and back to me and honestly keeps me going from day to day.  
> Hope you all have a great day/night, and love you all!
> 
> Huge thanks to DoqwithAQ for beta reading this chapter and giving me feedback!


	3. Conflicting Selves

The feeling of the girl’s hand lingered on Akira’s shoulder even after he ripped himself away. For a brief moment, his entire body felt lighter.

_“Akira, it’s alright. We’ll wash you up and put on a bandaid, okay?” His mother was leaning down as tears were streaming down his face. His right arm was red with blood dripping onto the concrete, a burning sensation running through it._

_“M–mommy?” Akira looked up through blurred vision to see his mother’s smile. It was as bright as the sun, nearly blinding Akira as his tears began drying and he felt a tender hand fall on his shoulder. Love and care were the only emotions that he felt from the touch, and he felt weightless as his mother helped him to his feet._

“Excuse me, but are you okay? You’re… crying?” Akira blinked twice. The redhead girl was staring up at him, her ruby eyes wide and her mouth agape. 

Akira’s body was hot one moment, then cold the next. His mind was fuzzy; he was in that other world just a few seconds ago with a burn across his chest, but other than feeling sore he felt completely fine. Even more confusing was the fact that, as he looked down, he noticed that he was back in his Shujin uniform and even that his glasses were back on his face.

“What… the hell…” It felt like a bullet was shot through his head as Akira staggered backwards. His chest was tight, and his mouth began to burn as his stomach gurgled. He attempted to look up, but his right foot hit air as he tried to find his footing, and he began to fall backwards.

“Dude, watch where you’re going,” Sakamoto’s voice came from behind Akira as a strong hand pushed his back, bringing him back to a standing position. Akira’s entire body shook violently, lasting only for a moment. All these people touching him… he despised it. “Hey, are you ok–”

“Get the hell away from me!” Akira shouted, slamming his feet down as he turned towards Sakamoto. His eyes were wide open, hot streaks running down his face as he stared at the blurry blonde.

“Wh-what?” Through his tears, Akira saw Sakamoto’s face; fear mixed with confusion and shock. 

“What’s going on here? Three students so late on the first day?” The girl behind Akira let out a small shriek as an older man’s voice rang above the three. Small shakes rippled through Akira’s body as he turned around, taking in a deep breath as he attempted to blink away his tears. “Sakamoto and that new transfer student I can understand being late, but you, Miss Yoshizawa? That is unexpected, especially from the younger sister of someone so amazing.”

For the briefest of moments, Akira’s fear and rage were masked by confusion as the girl next to him winced at the man’s words. In his brief confusion, his heart skipped a beat. Within the girl’s eyes, there was something that felt too familiar to Akira, but the feeling passed as quickly as it came as the girl quickly bowed and rushed up the stairs.

“Well, what about you two? Where were you?” the man, assumedly a teacher, turned with his arms crossed. 

“Tch, we were…”

“I ran into some thugs on my way to school, and me and this guy nearly got into a fight with them,” Akira explained before Sakamoto could continue on. He wasn’t sure if the teacher would believe him or not, but a lie would be better than the truth in this situation.

“Hmph, you really expect me to take your word?” the teacher basically spat his words, but Akira kept his eyes locked on him.

“Sounds believable enough to me.” Another convulsion rushed through Akira’s body as the last voice he wanted to hear rang above him. Kamoshida walked beside the teacher and stopped, a huge, almost goofy smile on his face. “Sakamoto looks enough like a thug with that yellow hair, and the new kid already has a record, so some thugs trying to start a fight with them sounds believable to me.”

It took everything Akira had to stop his hands balling into fists. He couldn’t believe his ears; a teacher would actually talk like this? However, he kept calm and simply nodded at Kamoshida. 

“Well, I’ll overlook this just this once since you’re being so cooperative,” Kamoshida’s smile grew even larger, only pissing Akira off more as he felt hotness spread through his chest.

“‘Overlook’ my ass…” Sakamoto mumbled as he shuffled past Akira, disappearing into the school after giving Kamoshida a dirty glare.

“You should really get over to Kawakami, she’s been waiting for you all day,” Kamoshida motioned towards the front doors, his smile flashing into a shit eating grin before turning and striding into the building. Being alone at last, Akira took a deep breath in before climbing up the stairs. 

It felt like sand was slowly filling his body with every step. Akira was utterly exhausted, with his hair slightly matted down and wet from sweat. ‘Persona… Arsene…’ His mind felt like it had been mashed together just trying to set the events of the day straight as Akira walked through the school. However, he quickly lost focus as his skin crawled; people’s eyes were on him. 

“Wait, is that really him?”

“He doesn’t look like a criminal though…”

“Yeah, but I bet he’ll sock you in the face if he loses it.”

“That’s the best case. He probably has a knife or something on him.”

“Why the hell is he here again?”

“I don’t know, he’s kinda cute.”

Akira’s body was shaking with each step taking all his energy. Unlike before, no one tried to hide the fact they were staring or even gossiping about him. Akira gripped his hands tightly into fists in his pockets as he shuffled through the first floor. Everyone’s eyes, the rumors, even the atmosphere of the building; it was all pushing down on Akira, and he was already exhausted by the time he reached the second floor.

“I heard he screamed at that honor student.”

“No, I’m pretty that was at Sakamoto.”

“Wait, the cursed twin? I heard that she nearly got her sister killed.”

“Yeah, if you look her in the eyes, you’ll die the very next day!”

Akira’s scowl lightened into a frown; a cursed twin? Nearly got her sister killed? He didn’t have much time to dwell on that as he scuffed his feet, stopping in front of the Faculty’s Office. His scowl reformed on his face as he opened the door, and Kawakami’s head shot in his direction almost immediately.

She looked irritated, the bags under her eyes worse than the previous day, as Akira shuffled towards her. “Where have you been?! Showing up to school halfway through the school day is unacceptable, you know!”

Akira’s body nearly froze, his scowl thankfully being upheld. He took a quick glance at the clock on the wall; 1:00 pm. A cough from Kawakami brought his eyes back to her, her arms crossed and her glare trying to break through Akira’s. “Like I told that teacher earlier, some thug stopped me and… Sakamoto I think? We tried running as fast as we could, but almost got caught multiple times.”

“Fine, I’ll believe that for now,” Kawakami let out a pained sigh, her index finger and thumb pinching her nose before motioning towards the door with her head. “Follow me, we need to go introduce you to your class. And please don’t say anything weird…”

The shamble towards the class was fairly short, no words being spoken between teacher and student. Akira’s throat was beginning to tense up as Kawakami stopped in front of a classroom door, and he tried to swallow down a lump as she opened the door. 

“Quiet down! Our new student is here finally,” Kawakami shouted as she led Akira through the open door. Akira’s stomach twisted as all eyes shot towards him; the last time he was in a classroom was…

_“He’s really a criminal now?”_

_“That’s a shame… I actually thought he was pretty cool.”_

_“That must be tough on his family.”_

_“The hell is he still doing here though?”_

Akira’s eyes widened as Kawakami coughed into her hand. “Kurusu-kun, could you please introduce yourself?” Her voice was strained, and the hair on Akira’s arms stood up as he could feel her glare on him. However, his own glare never faltered as he looked over the room; rows of students were lined in front of him with blackboards lining the front and back wall and sunlight pouring in from the windows on his right.

“Name’s Akira Kurusu,” he spoke as gruffly as possible, and nearly grinned as some students in the front winced. However, the satisfaction faded nearly instantaneously as he grit his teeth. That shouldn’t feel so good, dammit!

“Alright, you can sit… behind Takamaki.” Kawakami pointed towards the sole blonde girl in the room, and Akira nodded before walking towards the open desk. The students he passed froze up, each time a grin threatening to break onto his face, but he found his seat before his mask of indifference could break.

The day blurred together after that. Akira found his focus wandering throughout the last few classes of the day, the subject matter barely holding his interest for more than a few seconds. Even Math, in which he excelled at previously, seemed boring and painfully dull. The people around Akira were told to share their books with him, but even Akira didn’t want to share with the people around him. He was content to sit and stare idly out the window; it wasn’t like any teacher would call on him. 

‘Personas… It doesn’t make sense, but that definitely wasn’t a dream,’ Akira thought, bouncing his pencil against his desk as Kawakami was droning on about a volleyball rally. The burn from the pumpkin’s lantern was gone, but Akira’s chest still felt sore. He unconsciously reached up and touched where the flames had burned him and winced as a small shock rippled through his chest. The classroom sharpened for a second as Akira drew in a sharp gasp of air and immediately the people around him were looking at him.

“Alright, that’s it for today. One last time, the volleyball rally is coming up in two days, so we won’t be having classes in the afternoon. You are dismissed,” Kawakami finished, drawing everyone’s attention away from Akira. The classroom erupted into chaotic noise as Akira’s classmates stood up excitedly and began chatting with the people around them. The sudden rush of noise hit Akira like a brick wall as his head exploded into near unbearable pain. 

“Why did we get the criminal in our class?”

“He’s so quiet. It’s kinda creepy.”

“I give it a week tops for him to be kicked out.”

“What do you think he did?”

“I heard that he nearly killed someone, so he had to have done some other shit, right?”

Akira’s headphones flew onto his head as soon as he ripped them from his bag, the soothing jazz music covering the gossip flying all around him as he slowly got to his feet. If only he could summon Arsene here. He would shut them up real qu–

Akira stared outside the window, his nails digging into his palms to stop the malicious grin from spreading across his face. His insides felt like they were nearly about to flip over as he stayed frozen; one step, one movement would show his classmates who he was.

No! He wasn’t like that! The person ripping through those demons wasn’t him. It couldn’t have been him!

“...Kurusu-kun?” Kawakami’s voice broke through Akira’s thoughts and music, standing off to his right. Akira let out a breath that he didn’t realize he was holding before shaking off his headphones and looked over at Kawakami. “Are you alright? You were staring off into space for a second there.”

The students still in the classroom were now staring at Akira and Kawakami, their gazes like spears stabbing through Akira’s body. “I’m fine,” Akira croaked, gritting his teeth as he turned away from Kawakami.

“Well, I heard that you were seen with Sakamoto earlier today. He’s a bad influence, so I suggest you stay away from him.” Kawakami’s voice almost sounded robotic to Akira as his face darkened into a scowl.

“I will,” Akira replied simply, regaining control over his voice as he took a step forward and swung his bag over his shoulder. The students that had gathered around the back of the class parted as Akira made his way for the door, his face hardening into his scowl as whispers followed him out the door. His right hand wrapped around his headphones as a flash of yellow rapidly approached him from the left.

“Yo!” Sakamoto nearly shouted as he waved at Akira, drawing the attention of the nearby students.

“Do those two know each other?”

“Well, they did come to school late together.”

“Ugh, the two worst people hanging out… Why can’t they just be expelled already?”

“Hey, don’t forget about that demon honors student. I heard she attacked her sister out of jealousy!”

Akira’s scowl nearly broke at the last comment; just who was this other person they were talking about? However, his thoughts were cut short as Sakamoto leaned into his ear, the blonde’s breath sending little pricks of pain through his brain.

“Hey, meet me up on the ro–”

“No,” Akira cut him off, facing towards the staircase.

“Dude, I just want to talk about what happened tod–”

“I know that, but there’s nothing to talk about.” Akira took a step forward, not having to try hard to keep his face in a scowl as Sakamoto rushed in front of him.

“Dude, that couldn’t have been a dream! Just come with me!” Akira’s body reacted on it’s own as Sakamoto reached down for his wrist, shoving past the blonde with his shoulder. He heard a few gasps behind him, no doubt from the other students, as he began climbing down the staircase. No teachers saw the interaction, and the warning Kawakami gave him earlier reassured Akira that nothing would be made of it; Sakamoto was in a similar position to him.

“Urgh…” Akira grunted as he reached the bottom of the stairs. The headache that had previously dulled returned in full force, causing him to grasp his head feebly as he stumbled forward.

_No one is like you._

_You are alone._

_You are unwanted_

“What the hell is up with him?”

“I don’t know, but he’s sweating a lot…”

“Should we help him?”

“Hell no! He’s that criminal transfer student! I’m not trying to get stabbed!”

The pounding in Akira’s head refused to die down as his mouth opened, but nothing came out. The staring, the rumors; everything from the people around him made him feel sick. Akira forced himself to stumble forward towards the exit, towards the bathroom; anywhere but this place. 

“Fuck,” he managed to get out as the constant pain only worsened, spreading downwards through his body. He reached out to his right, hoping for something to lean on, as the pain was met with warmth at his core.

_He has nothing._

_He has no one._

_They mean nothing to him._

_Nothing at all._

Agony mired with pleasure; that is what Akira felt as two hot streaks began running down his face, a smile forming on his lips as his legs gave out.

_“Akira, even if everyone is against you, we’re your parents. We will never leave you,” Akira’s father spoke gently as tears streamed down Akira’s face._

_“That’s right. No matter what happens, you are our son. Nothing will ever change that fact, nor will anything change our love for you,” his mother leaned down and stroked Akira’s burning face, wiping away the tears only to be replaced._

_“Mom, Dad…” Akira fought through his tears, his voice breaking as he attempted to look up at his caring parents. “Thank you so much. I don’t know where I would be wi...thout y...ou tw…”_

“...use me, but he doesn’t look good!” A strangely familiar voice rang above Akira, a set of footsteps coming closer to him. Darkness was the only thing that greeted him as he attempted to open his eyes to no avail. His entire body felt extremely heavy, to the point that Akira couldn’t even raise his finger. He could do nothing but lay there and listen, the footsteps stopping as he felt two presences lean close to him.

“It seems like he’s exhausted, dearie,” an old woman’s voice called out from above him, but it sounded distant. “However, I’m not sure where that burn on his chest came from. It hardly looks natural to me.”

Burn? The only burn Akira remembered was when he fought against that demonic pumpkin. So that meant that…

“Is he going to be okay?” the first voice broke his thought process. Akira tried to frown, but his face remained static. Why did she sound so worried? Who was she anyways?

“He just needs to rest. He’ll be just fine,” the second mysterious voice responded followed by a chuckle. “Well, speak of the devil, he seems to be waking up now.”

Akira’s eyes slowly crept open, closing again as blinding light poured into his retinas. After a few seconds of readjustment, his eyes fully opened, and Akira was… confused. What felt like just moments ago he was standing in the hallway, but now he was in a small room that was nearly all white. Even more than that, a girl was leaning over him, red eyes wide open and filled with… concern?

“Red… eyes?” Akira croaked, his words getting caught up in his throat. The girl above him smiled, or what Akira assumed to be a smile as the worry remained in her eyes behind round glasses.

“I’m glad you’re okay…” she let out a sigh, standing up straight but still within Akira’s line of sight. “You collapsed earlier today and it didn’t feel right to leave you after bringing you to the nurse.” 

At this point, Akira was beyond confused before finally recognizing her face; she was the girl who prevented him from falling earlier. Akira tried to prop himself up on his elbows, but his body barely responded as his index finger moved slightly.

“Now now dearie, you should rest up. You look like you haven’t slept in ages,” the second voice remarked, finally moving into view beside the red haired girl. It was an old woman with gray hair and spectacles along with a white coat covering a plain black blouse.

“Where… am I?” Akira managed to get out.

“You’re in the nurse’s office, sweetie,” the woman replied, giving Akira a warm smile. Akira’s body tensed as his eyes widened, which the two women noticed as they rushed forward.

“What’s wrong?” the redhead asked, but Akira continued staring wide eyed at the ceiling. They clearly didn’t know who he was, or they wouldn’t still be here. 

_They wouldn’t believe him…_

_They hated him…_

_Why wouldn’t they?_

“Stay… away from… me…” Akira pushed out, gritting his teeth as he threw everything he had into just trying to prop himself up. He got closer this time as he was able to push feebly against the nurse’s bed, but it wasn’t nearly enough as he collapsed backwards. Heat spread through his face as the redhead took a step towards him. Akira froze as he saw the same fear in her ruby eyes as the other students. But there was another emotion in her wide eyes that terrified Akira: pity. 

“Please… calm down,” she spoke softly, her simple words striking at Akira’s core as the tension began seeping from his body. It didn’t make sense, but her voice seemed eerily similar. The fear within Akira’s eyes also faded as he stared upward; he was exhausted, but his eyes wouldn’t shut anymore.

“I’ll be in my office if you need me, dearie. Let me know when he’s about to leave, alright?” the nurse called back as she walked out of Akira’s vision.

“Okay! Thank you, ma’am!” Akira winced as the redhead called back to the nurse, a sharp pain shooting through his head. “Oh, I’m sorry! I’ll be quiet…” 

He wasn’t sure why, but Akira’s body loosened even more as the girl bowed slightly and sat down in the chair beside the bed. 

“Who are you?” Before he had time to think, those words escaped his lips and his blood ran cold. ‘Shit shit shit… what am I doing?’ 

“Oh! I’m so sorry! My name is Sumire Yoshizawa!” Yoshizawa yelped, nearly shooting out of her chair as she straightened herself before looking downward. Akira could barely see her out of the corner of his eye, but he caught a glimpse into her eyes. She seemed… sad. 

Silence filled the room as Akira tried to close his eyes, but they wouldn’t budge as he stared up at the tiled wall. His outburst earlier drained the rest of his energy, so he couldn’t muster up anything but a blank stare, his heart calmed and his breathing even. Yoshizawa was still, Akira barely able to see her hands clasped over her skirt. There was something tugging in the back of his mind, but for the life of him Akira couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Um…” Akira tried to look over at Yoshizawa, and his face lit up in surprise as his head actually moved. She was fidgeting, her nerves clearly written all over her face. “What… what’s your name?”

“Akira Kurusu,” Akira replied plainly. The voice telling him to stop talking was dimmer than usual, its words not even intelligible. The itching in the back of his skull grew more intense as Akira’s head fully turned towards Yoshizawa. Her face lit up for a split second, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, but her eyes fell right after. Akira found himself opening his mouth once again, the words “What’s wrong?” forming on his lips before his body locked up. 

“I see… So Kurusu-ku– Wait! You’re a second year, so you would be my senpai,” Yoshizawa eventually said, looking back up at Akira. Akira’s mind was going into overdrive as his body relaxed again; the answer he was looking for was within Yoshizawa’s eyes, but his head felt like it was about to combust any second.

“I guess…” Akira replied, moving his eyes back to the ceiling. He was steadily regaining control over himself as he shifted his head away from Yoshizawa. While part of him wanted to figure out what was going on with what this girl was pulling out of him, Akira desperately wanted to be left alone. However, his legs only budged slightly as he tried to swing them off the bed; it seemed like he would have to endure this a little while longer.

“Kurusu-Senpai?” Yoshizawa’s voice ringed in Akira’s right ear as the teen only moved his eyes towards the source. She seemed even more nervous than before, her knuckles whitening as she grasped at her skirt. “Um… earlier today, I saw you and that blonde boy arrive at school late as well. You didn’t look great back then either. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just need some rest like the nurse said.” 

Akira was stunned. Stunned at Yoshizawa’s apparent ignorance about him, stunned about his willingness to speak plainly to her. However, he didn’t allow Yoshizawa to see his surprise as he kept his eyes trained on her.

“O-okay… I just remembered earlier today and how you were crying. You seemed… lonely.” A pit took form in Akira’s gut instantly as tension spread throughout his body. He knew where the conversation was going, and the voice in the back of his mind was resurging. 

_She doesn’t actually care._

_She just doesn’t know about that._

_Anyone who learns about you will throw you away, just like you deserve._

Yoshizawa didn’t seem to notice Akira’s body tense up as she looked down at the ground. “You had a wild look in your eyes, full of fear. I may be overstepping, but it seemed like you needed a fri–”

Akira shot out of the nurse’s bed in one motion, the white cover flying into the air before falling gently back down as Yoshizawa let out a surprised yelp. “K-Kurusu-Senpai?”

“Leave me alone…” Akira gasped for air as his chest tightened, but he forced himself towards the door and ripped it open. He heard small, timid footsteps approach behind him, and his blood chilled. “Leave me alone!”

He heard Yoshizawa let out a small gasp behind him as his voice rang around the near empty hallways. The few students that were around quickly looked up and then back down, realization in their eyes as Akira practically dragged himself out of the school. 

No one cared about him.

He didn’t need anyone.

All eyes were on him as he exited the school building, a rush of air passing by him as Akira looked upwards. The sun was just beginning to fall, and he reached down for his phone; it was 6:00 pm. Yoshizawa and the school behind him, Akira made his way back to Leblanc, his mind strangely quiet throughout the train rides and the walk back. Maybe it was exhaustion, maybe it was that encounter with Yoshizawa; Akira wasn’t quite sure what was having this effect on him. 

“You’re finally back,” Sojiro’s gruff voice was the first thing waiting for Akira as he pushed open the door to the cafe. “I got a call from your school saying you were late, and now you have the guts to make me wait so damn long after school was supposed to get out?”

“Sorry…” Akira lowered his head. 

“Sorry ain’t gonna cut it, kid. The school said you got involved with some thugs this morning, but nothing about you coming back so late. Explain; now.” Sojiro’s stern eyes were boring into Akira, even though the teen had his head facing the ground.

“I… collapsed,” Akira figured it was better to tell the truth; what else could he even say?

“You collapsed?” Sojiro straightened himself, giving Akira some room to look up. The man’s eyes seemed conflicted.

“Yeah. The nurse said I needed more rest,” Akira closed his eyes, Yoshizawa waiting for him in the darkness. The buzz in the back of his head returned, but Akira shook it off as he reopened his eyes.

“Well, I don’t care what you do, but make sure you get to school on time and don’t make me wait for you, got it?” Akira simply nodded his head at Sojiro’s request as he turned to head upstairs. His body was sore and heavy as he reached the attic, placing his bag down on the wooden railing before shuffling towards the bed. 

‘Personas… Shadows… Kamoshida. All three of those things have to be connected somehow, along with that strange castle, but how?’ Akira’s mind raced as he collapsed on the bed, which squeaked under his sudden weight. ‘There’s also the fact that Kamoshida didn’t seem to recognize me from the castle out front of the school, not to mention his entire wardrobe changed. Just what the hell was that today?’

Akira let out a yawn as exhaustion hit him once again before letting out a groan. The actual school day was so much worse than he had expected it to be, what little he experienced. The constant glancing of the other students, the endless gossiping and rumors; it felt like he was dragging himself through mud the entire day. The only thing that was close to positive was him killing those monsters, or shadows as Morgana had called them, but even then the feeling of enjoying ripping through them was deeply unsettling. There was that experience, and then…

Yoshizawa’s ruby eyes were staring at Akira in his mind’s eyes, full of worry and concern. About him, his health, even his mental state.

It didn’t make sense; she didn’t know him at all, so why would she show even half of that concern? She even took him to the nurse’s office while he was unconscious when no one else would.

“Dammit… I need to do some work,” Akira cursed. He pushed himself off the bed and walked over to the desk after grabbing his bag. He could barely focus as he worked through the assignments for the classes tomorrow, his mind being pulled in multiple directions as his pencil moved on its own. The events of the day passed through his mind on repeat as he went from Math to Social Studies to Science; black blood splattered on his face, the warmth spreading through his body as Arsene rose above him, the familiarity to Yoshizawa’s touch. His head felt foggy, but his music reached his ears as he plugged his headphones in and threw them over his head, cutting through the fog. 

Akira heard a distant ring downstairs from Leblanc’s door as he finished all his work, pushing himself up from the desk with his legs shaking slightly as he turned towards the bed. ‘I’ll pick up some plant fertilizer tomorrow…’ Akira let out a sigh as he stared at the quickly decaying plant, a pang of guilt throbbing in his chest. He shook his head as he shuffled towards the bed, his eyes falling with each step he took. Letting out a groan, Akira collapsed face down on the bed, a slight amount of pain shooting through his chest from the small burn. Akira winced as he shifted his weight to try and turn over, but his body gave out as he sank into the bed and his eyes shut.

* * *

In just two days, it had become routine for Akira to roll out of bed and immediately slip on his uniform while his mind was still fuzzy. While others would spend a good amount of their morning trying to wake themselves up enough to get ready, Akira found it natural to start the day just as he woke up. It wasn’t due to him feeling overly energetic or getting enough sleep; every night, he woke up once or twice with a throbbing headache, and it took him around thirty minutes to an hour just to fall back asleep. The reason why was simple, at least to Akira: it was the only time when his head wasn’t swimming with thoughts.

“Actually going to school?” Sojiro raised an eyebrow as Akira shuffled past him, his hair more disheveled than usual. Akira continued forward towards the door, his hands buried in his pockets and his headphones wrapped around his neck. He heard Sojiro click his tongue as he approached the door, but Akira pushed the door open, flipping over the sign before heading towards the station.

Perhaps it was a blessing that Akira had adjusted to this lifestyle so quickly as he stood at the Ginza station, idly tapping at his phone as his music drowned out the buzz around him. His sharp glare gave him a large berth of space around him, the people around him not willing to come close or even look at him. The space to himself was a gift he hadn’t realized he needed, but with it came something else as his mind began to wander. 

_Shadows_

_Personas_

_That girl…_

Akira frowned at his phone; these weren’t the normal thoughts that tormented him. However, instead of being a relief, it only confused Akira. What was going on? Was it because of last night?

“Wait, last night?” Akira murmured to himself. He rarely had dreams, and when he did they were him being chased by a serial killer or falling off a mountain. But last night...

_“About time you’ve come to.”_

Akira’s eyes widened; in his mind’s eye he saw clearly Igor and the two wardens.

_“Ah, my mistake for not properly introducing them. To your right is Caroline, to your left Justine.”_

Akira reached up for his head, gripping it tightly. The events of last night came rushing back to mind; he had gone back to that strange dreamlike place, the Velvet Room Igor called it.

_“It must be disheartening to use the Metaverse Navigator on your own. If there are others that would prove beneficial to you, I shall grant it to them as well.”_

Igor’s words rang around in Akira’s head as he let out a small grunt of pain; it wasn’t the worst pain he had felt before, but it was centered behind his left eye, making Akira clutch at the affected area. 

The image within his mind shifted as Yoshizawa’s face appeared clear as day, her face downward with tears in her eyes. Akira grit his teeth as his headache actually began to clear, but he was utterly confused.

Who was she? And why was she the only one to look at Akira like an actual person?

‘Stop.’ Akira shook his head free of his thoughts, letting his hand fall to his side as he took in a deep breath.

_Thinking like that will only bring you pain._

“Hey, that’s her right?” While deep in his thoughts, Akira had somehow brushed his headphones off his head, and the voices around him were crisper and stuck in his mind even more. He looked around and found the source of the voice; a few feet to his right were two plain looking students, a guy with black hair and a girl with a ponytail. Akira had nothing better to do, so he decided to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“You mean the one with the glasses? Uh, I guess so?” the guy responded, his voice sounding tired.

“She’s so thin… it’s unfair! I can wear glasses too…” 

Akira closed his eyes, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. ‘Just how stupid and petty can these people be?’

“And? How does that have anything to do with being thin?”

Akira didn’t get a chance to look at the girl they were gossiping about as the train zoomed past the station, the doors opening as it came to a stop. However, he felt uneasy as he boarded the train, but it was different than the constant anxiety that followed him everywhere he went. It was a slow, twisting feeling of the uncertain that took root in Akira’s gut, but uncertain about what? He knew how the day was going to play out, with everyone around him treating him like trash. Everyone except…

“Um, ma’am?” Akira froze, facing towards the train door as the voice practically ingrained into his head timidly spoke directly behind him. “Y-you can have my seat if you want…”

“Are ya sure missy?” A woman’s voice came from behind Akira, clearly belonging to an old woman. 

“Mhm… My station is coming up…” Akira didn’t dare move as he heard slow movements behind him.

“Well then…” The old woman croaked as Akira felt her move towards the seat, but another presence dashed behind Akira, bumping into him and causing him to stumble forward slightly. Luckily, Akira stopped himself before he ran into anyone else on the train, but the unease gave way to irritation as he straightened himself.

“E-excuse me, that was meant for this woman…” As Akira returned his gaze on the quickly moving tunnel outside of the train window, his blood began to heat up. Yoshizawa’s voice was quivering, and she sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

“It’s alright missy,” the old woman clearly tried to make her voice as reassuring as possible, but the slight sniffling behind Akira told him that it didn’t work.

_Why do you care?_

_She’s just like everyone else._

_Just stay out of th–_

“I-I’m sorry… I-I just wanted to be of he-help to you, but…” 

Akira’s resolve cracked as he slowly spun around and he took in the situation all at once. Yoshizawa and the old woman were to his left, but the redhead didn’t even notice him as her head was down with tears welling up while the old woman attempted to comfort her. In the seat that Akira assumed was Yoshizawa’s was a black haired businessman sleeping, or at least pretending to as Akira saw his eyes twitch slightly. 

“Hey,” Akira surprised himself with the pure venom in his voice as he stared down at the man. He didn’t give himself time to think properly as he took a step towards the man, still pretending to sleep but his shoulders tensed up slightly. “Hey, wake up! That was for that old woman over there!”

“Huh? What are you sayin kid?” The man stirred from his sleep and looked up at Akira. “That redhead gave up her seat, so I just took the oppurtuni–”

“You have three seconds to get up.” Akira had bent down so he was eye level with the man, willing as much hatred and vitriol onto his face as possible. “One.”

The man didn’t give Akira the chance to continue counting as he shot up from the seat and pushed through the crowd, a flash of fear on his face being the last thing Akira saw from him. It was after the man had escaped that Akira realized that people’s eyes were on him, including Yoshizawa’s and the old woman’s, but he simply closed his eyes and returned to facing towards the door.

_Why?_

_Getting involved will get you nothing._

_You should know this already._

Akira’s body lurched forward slightly as the train slowed to a stop. His head felt like it was filling with sand as he stepped off; he felt like two separate parts of himself were tearing him apart. He knew more than anything that trying to help others would just end in him getting hurt, but…

“Excuse me! Kurusu-senpai!” Yoshizawa’s voice made Akira stop, his blood running cold as her footsteps approached him. 

“What?” Akira tried to keep his voice level as he stayed facing forward, wincing as he heard his voice shaking slightly.

“W-well, I just wanted to thank you for just then…”

“He had it coming,” Akira replied, his body shaking for a split second afterwards. Yoshizawa was the only one that Akira could talk plainly to, but Akira still wasn’t sure why. 

Maybe it was the look in her eyes that was so familiar to Akira.

“I just… thank you so much!” Yoshizawa’s voice rang out in the bustling station, a few people looking over at her and Akira as the teen looked over his shoulder. Yoshizawa was bowing towards him with her eyes shut.

“Whatever.” Akira shook his head as he took a stride forward, leaving Yoshizawa behind him as he exited out of the station. No footsteps followed after him as he made his way down the street, nor did Yoshizawa try and catch up with him as he walked through the alley. 

_“You will be training the power of Persona, which you have awakened to.”_

Akira kept his eyes forward as he walked up the stone steps as Igor’s voice continued echoing in his mind.

_“Personas are, in other words, a “mask”– an armor of the heart when confronting worldly matters.”_

Akira walked past numerous teachers and students, some averting their eyes while others snuck quick glares at him as he made his way towards the staircase. Whispers flooded Akira’s ears as people around him were gossiping about him. However, they weren’t anything new to Akira, so he put his headphones on as he made his way to his class.

_“However, it seems like you are using yours more like a spear than armor. That is… intriguing, to say the least. I will be watching you progress with keen eyes…”_

“Kurusu-kun, _please_ remove your headphones,” Kawakami’s tired voice shook Akira in his seat as he jolted his head upwards. Everyone’s eyes were on him as he let out a sigh, removing the headphones and collapsing them into his bag. 

Yet another day at the hell that was Shujin Academy.

* * *

As the science teacher finished his lecture, Akira’s stomach rumbled loudly, drawing the attention of his classmates around him. Akira ignored them as he got to his feet and swung his bag over his shoulder, and with his glare plastered on his face, he made his way down to the cafeteria.

Once there, he strode over towards one of the open stands and ordered Jam Bread. He noticed the woman behind the counter shaking as he handed her the yen as well as when she gave him the simple meal, but Akira internally sighed and turned to go sit at one of the cafeteria tables. Most of the people in his class were eating in the homeroom, and Akira did not want to stay in that room if at all possible.

He luckily found an empty table towards the back of the cafeteria, and sat down after buying a Raw Punch from the vending machine. Taking a sip, Akira’s eyes widened as he nearly spit it out. It tasted like the only thing in it was caffeine. However, after the shock factor passed, Akira found it almost pleasant as it sharpened his vision with every sip.

As he ate his basic lunch, Akira continually scanned the cafeteria; no one was paying him any mind, but he didn’t want to be caught off gua–

The table rattled slightly as a large box was set down opposite of Akira, and his eyes flew upwards. “Yoshizawa?” Akira couldn’t stop himself as his mouth moved on its own, the red haired girl sitting opposite of him. Her eyes were directed towards the table as she fidgeted with the giant box, almost as if she didn’t notice Akira sitting across from her. Akira’s face formed into a slight frown; she seemed sadder than even this morning. However, his confusion morphed into complete shock as Yoshizawa pulled out a huge platter of food from the box, a mix of rice, meat, and vegetables being kept apart by small dividers.

He could only stare in shock as Yoshizawa bowed her head slightly before breaking apart a pair of chopsticks and began eating. Akira didn’t dare blink; if he did, he was sure that he would have missed Yoshizawa eating the entire platter. He tried to shake off his amazement, but Yoshizawa caught him as she looked upwards and gave a wry smile. “What’s wrong, Senpai?”

_Sh… not a ...iend._

_Do… intera… with h…_

“Nothing, just… that was a lot of food just then,” Akira responded. For a split second, he felt like a normal teenager again as Yoshizawa’s smile widened into something more sincere. However, the feeling passed as Akira looked back downwards; what was he doing? 

“I’m a gymnast, so I’ll burn it off during practice,” Yoshizawa’s voice seemed more distant as Akira continued to have his eyes trained on the table. 

He didn’t need her. 

He didn’t need anyone.

He swung his legs over the bench and stood up suddenly, and Akira heard Yoshizawa make a sound that sounded like a squeak behind him. “S-Senpai?” The rustling behind him told Akira everything he needed to know as he felt Yoshizawa’s presence grow closer to him, but he shook his head violently before walking towards one of the exits. People were staring and whispering about him as he stormed out, but the ringing in his ears made all their voices miniscule to the point he couldn’t hear them.

His mind was clouded the rest of the day, unable to focus on anything as his thoughts floated idly within his head. However, one thought continued resurging throughout the day as Yoshizawa reappeared over and over again. Akira couldn’t listen to music to drown it out, nor looking outside brought him any peace. Why wouldn’t she just get out of his head?

“Hey new kid! You’re not paying attention, are you?” Akira looked up slowly from his slouched position as Mr. Ushimaru stared daggers at him. “Tell me what the Devil’s Dictionary defined as the chief factor in the progress of the human race.”

“Villains.” Akira’s answer was almost immediate as he went back into his slouch. 

“Hmph, I didn’t expect you to actually know the answer,” Ushimaru grumbled. Akira’s focus broke again as the ringing resurged in his ears and Ushimaru went into explaining why that was the answer. 

The rest of the day went by without event, just how Akira wanted it to go. He had managed to find a distraction for himself to draw his mind away from Yoshizawa through tapping his pencil against his hand, and it proved effective throughout the day.

“Urgh…” Akira groaned as he got to his feet. He still felt the burn on his chest as his shirt brushed against it throughout the day, but it hardly bothered him. A small part of him actually enjoyed it, which concerned Akira.

Akira shook his head as he made his way out of the classroom, and the unease that he felt at the beginning of the day returned. Walking towards the staircase, he saw a face that instantly made him freeze up.

“Hey there, Takamaki,” Kamoshida walked up to a blonde girl, and after a split second Akira recognized her as the girl that sat in front of him. “Things have been kind of dangerous lately with all those accidents, so why don’t I give you a ride home?”

Akira felt his blood boil as the man wore a pleasant smile which was somehow more unpleasant than any of his other facial expressions. His eyes widened as his legs began moving towards Kamoshida and the blonde girl, Takamaki, and Kamoshida glanced over immediately.

“Oh, and not to mention this guy.”

It took all of Akira’s willpower and then some not to take a swing at Kamoshida as he lowered his head and walked past the two, walking upstairs instead of down. He wasn’t sure what just happened; the urges he felt inside the Metaverse, as Igor named it, pushed itself to the forefront of Akira’s mind. It terrified Akira, but he let out a sigh of relief as he was able to suppress those feelings.

_Why not let loose?_

_You’re already seen as a criminal; why not beco… ...ne?_

As Akira was walking upstairs, he stumbled through a set of doors and nearly fell onto his face, barely keeping himself on his feet. Instead of being met with stares and gossip, Akira felt a cool breeze on his face. A frown formed on his face as he looked up and around; he was on the roof of Shujin.

“Senpai?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter done, and yet another cliffhanger! I can't promise anything, but end of chapters won't all be cliffhangers. Thank you all for supporting this work, and I hope to continue seeing you guys in the comments and in future chapters to come!


	4. Picking up the Pieces

“Senpai?” Just as Akira was about to head back down the stairs, Yoshizawa’s voice called out to him. He froze in place; her voice was quivering, and it barely seemed like she got above a whisper.

“What is it?” Akira answered back despite the desperate voice in his head telling him not to. However, just like prior encounters with the redhead, the voice was distant, almost unintelligible, whispering _Don’t_ constantly. 

Each heartbeat felt like an eternity as Akira waited for his answer, his hands beginning to shake within his pockets. However, he didn’t hear anything behind him, not even footsteps, so he slowly turned around. As he laid eyes on the redhead, his blood ran cold.

Yoshizawa was standing near the wired fencing at the opposite side of the rooftop, only her head facing towards Akira. Tears were splattered onto her face as new ones sped down her cheeks, crashing down onto the ground beneath her like a waterfall. Her previously immaculate cherry hair was matted down with dirt and an indefinable liquid Akira wasn’t comfortable making an assumption on.

Without thinking, Akira took a step towards Sumire before he stopped as she stepped backwards. This wasn’t anything like how she was acting previously, and Akira felt a sudden twist in his gut. He shouldn’t be doing this, but… 

“What’s wro–?” 

“Please stay away from me…” Before Akira could finish his question, Sumire suddenly collapsed into a ball, sitting on her calves with her head buried in her arms. 

_“O-okay… I just remembered earlier today and how you were crying. You seemed… lonely.”_

_“Leave me alone!”_

_“Kurusu-senpai?”_

Akira took another step forward, this one more confident. His mind was swirling as Yoshizawa’s acts of kindness over the last two days flashed in front of him. He wasn’t sure why still, but… perhaps Yoshizawa was more like him than he thought.

“Kurusu-senpai, please leave me alone!” Yoshizawa attempted to scream as Akira took another step towards her, but her voice cracked as her body tensed up. She looked like an abandoned puppy on the side of the road, lost and alone without anyone to turn to.

‘Just like me.’

Akira took another step forward, around halfway towards Yoshizawa, when he stopped. The voice in his head was completely quiet, the first time in months. If he was going to try and speak to her, now was the time.

“Yoshizawa-san, are you alright?” The sudden use of honorifics that escaped Akira’s mouth clearly shocked Yoshizawa as she shook slightly, still keeping her head buried in her arms.

“I’m fine. Just… please stay away, Kurusu-senpai…” Yoshizawa’s body was completely still; if Akira wasn’t talking with her, he would have assumed her to be asleep or worse.

“Can I ask why you want me to stay away?” Akira couldn’t quite believe the words coming out of his mouth as he found a nearby chair and lowered himself into it. Before today, he didn’t give a shit about how other people felt; he just needed to watch out for himself.

“I… n’t wa… hu… ou,” Yoshizawa’s voice barely reached Akira. He couldn’t make out exactly what she said, but what he did hear he could figure out what she said: I don’t want to hurt you. Akira’s chest tightened briefly before he let out a sigh. That answer didn’t make much sense considering how he had treated her over the past two days, but he didn’t give himself time to think through his own answer as his mouth opened.

“What makes you think you’ll hurt me?” Akira winced; it had been a while since anything remotely close to sincerity came from his mouth, but he found he couldn’t hold it back as Yoshizawa shifted slightly, her head still facing the ground.

“Whenever I get close to you, you look terrified, Akira-senpai…” Yoshizawa’s voice carried a bit more weight as Akira leaned back in his chair, dreading the voice to dissuade him from continuing on. 

It never came, and Yoshizawa finally moved her head up to look at Akira. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and the dirt in her hair and on her face seemed to be more prominent now that Akira was closer. “I don’t want to be a burden, Senpai, but I…” 

Akira began to shake as Yoshizawa paused, looking back down at the ground. What was he supposed to do now? Was he supposed to help her like she helped him? Did he even want to help h–?

“Nevermind…” Yoshizawa suddenly stood up from her place on the ground, breaking Akira from his thoughts as she shuffled towards the door.

“Wait!” Without thinking, Akira was on his feet and in front of Yoshizawa, stopping her in her tracks as she nearly bumped into him.

“K-Kurusu-senpai?” Yoshizawa looked up timidly, her ruby eyes meeting Akira’s gray as he stared unblinking at her. Any questions, any doubt, any indecisiveness to sit by and refuse Yoshizawa help were gone, replaced only with the same desire Akira thought had all but dissolved so long ago.

“I… I’ve been awful to you so far, Yoshizawa-san, but allow me to make up for that right now. Tell me what’s on your mind,” Akira said, a wave of… something rushing over him. He wasn’t sure what to feel; he didn’t trust this girl, and she didn’t know who he was. But maybe that was why he felt so willing to help her; to prevent someone becoming as broken as him.

“Kurusu-senpai… Are you sure?” Yoshizawa asked, her tiny body shaking. Without answering, Akira walked over and dragged over another chair, setting it down opposite to his before looking back up at Yoshizawa. She opened her mouth to speak again, but Akira simply sat down in his own chair, motioning for Yoshizawa to do the same. 

The past months of his life had felt like a blur, like he was living outside of his body and simply controlling it like some sort of video game. But this moment was different. Akira felt like himself again, if only for a brief moment as he watched Yoshizawa sit down opposite to him. Fear, confusion, and numerous other emotions were swirling within her red eyes, Akira noted, but he saw something else within them. It wasn’t a specific emotion, but it was brighter than the rest, something that threatened to break through the darkness within her eyes.

“Well, um…” Yoshizawa fidgeted in the metallic seat, clearly uncomfortable and not knowing where to start. “Have you heard… some rumors about a cursed girl, Kurusu-senpai?”

“I have,” Akira nodded, pushing back against the knot in his stomach that took form. As long as he kept his own troubles to himself, he could help this girl.

“Well, that girl is me.” Yoshizawa’s face darkened as she bowed her head forward and froze. 

“Go on,” Akira’s voice was deeper than usual, some semblance of confidence returning as Yoshizawa looked up shyly at him.

“Wait, what about the rumors tho–?”

“Most of those are bullshit, and they do nothing but bring people down.” Akira locked eyes with Yoshizawa, willing them to be as firm as possible as he continued. “Whatever those morons spread down there, I won’t believe a thing unless I see it with my own eyes.”

“S-Senpai…” Yoshizawa’s eyes were beginning to swell up with tears as she looked back down. “The thing is, they’re not exactly wrong…”

“What does that mean?” Akira winced slightly; he didn’t mean for that to come out as harsh as it did, but Yoshizawa slowly looked back up, averting her eyes from Akira’s.

“Around two months ago, I… got my sister injured in a car accident.”

Akira frowned, something tugging at the back of his mind as Yoshizawa continued. 

“She was my best friend, and I… I took away her chance at a normal life…”

Akira didn’t dare move as Yoshizawa began shaking. Another emotion began to creep up in her eyes, he noticed: anger. 

“I only wanted to be seen as an equal to her, but I guess I really am a failure…”

At this point, Yoshizawa was trembling, her seat shaking along with her as tears began streaming down her face once again. 

“It’s alright, you don’t have to continue on any further Yoshizawa-san,” Akira spoke gently as he lifted himself from his chair and moved towards Yoshizawa. Yoshizawa’s tears continued rolling down her face, but her eyes widened as Akira kneeled down in front of her.

“Kurusu-senpai, I…” Her body seemed like it was about to collapse at any moment if not for sitting in a chair as her legs were shaking violently. 

“You said she was injured, right?” 

Yoshizawa nodded, and Akira rested on his legs as he focused on her face. It didn’t make sense why she was this dirty, but Akira blinked as he refocused himself on Yoshizawa.

“That means that she’s still alive, and you can make up with her and move forward.” Akira tried to put as much reassurance in his voice as possible, which wasn’t very difficult despite the conditions he was in. However, Yoshizawa lowered her head even more, her red hair covering her face as more tears fell onto her lap.

“That’s not it… she’s in a coma right now…” 

Akira’s eyes widened at the sudden news, but he forced his face back to equilibrium with a shake of his head. “Yoshizawa-san.”

The forcefulness in Akira’s voice shocked even himself as Yoshizawa looked up, their eyes meeting once again as he kept his gaze steady. “You may not be able to do this right away, but everyone screws up and you need to forgive yourself. Sometimes the repercussions are bigger, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still mistakes. You never meant to hurt her, right?”

“But… I still put her in this state!” Yoshizawa cried out, her anguish clear on her face as the steady stream of tears became a torrent. “I… I can never forgive myself…”

“Even if that’s true, you don’t have to suffer alone.” It felt like time was slowing down around Akira as Yoshizawa rapidly blinked at him, confusion creeping onto her anguished face. “I may have been awful to you earlier, but…” 

“You have your family.” Akira took in a deep breath as he realized his body was shaking before looking up at Yoshizawa. She looked confused and hurt; it was clear what Akira was about to say to both of them, but Akira couldn’t bring himself to that point yet.

“B-but I’m sure they hate me as well… for taking my sister’s chances at life away… They always loved her more anyways…” Yoshizawa’s hands gripped weakly at her skirt before falling to her sides. 

“Do you really believe that?” Akira whispered, and Yoshizawa’s eyes darted back to him. “How did they react when they reached you two? Were they only worried about your sister?”

A brief moment of realization flashed in Yoshizawa’s eyes as she let in a small gasp, but her face darkened the next moment. “But… it’s only them I have…” Yoshizawa’s lips quivered, and Akira felt another pang shoot through his chest. It was like a combination of negative emotions: pain, sadness, anger. “She was my only friend, and now I don’t even have her…”

The convulsions returned as Akira’s eyes widened. The voice was supposed to be back at times like this, but it was still gone. Was this really an option for him? For him to really help her? What if she found out about his record?

“Senpai?” Yoshizawa’s voice shattered Akira’s thoughts as he looked back up. Her tears were drying quickly as the fear and pain on her face was replaced with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” Akira hastily lied, unballing his hands and relaxing his shoulders. Yoshizawa looked as if she didn’t believe him, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it as he stared confidently into her eyes. “I’m serious; I’m fine.”

“I-if you say so…” Yoshizawa trailed off, and Akira noticed that she was fidgeting again. There was nothing stopping him, so why was he hesitating? As long as he could keep his past from her, could they be fri–?

His eyes widened for a brief second as a violent tremor was sent throughout his legs, but Akira quickly caught himself before he could stumble backwards. As he straightened up, Akira noticed Yoshizawa look up towards him, opening her mouth to clearly ask “Are you okay?” again, but Akira hastily tried to change the subject.

“Anyways, we should go get you washed up,” Akira began to turn towards the roof door before stopping; Yoshizawa wasn’t following him. “ If I can ask, how did you get that dirty in the first place?” Akira winced immediately as soon as he finished; he was expecting Yoshizawa to break down again, but she simply closed her eyes and lowered her head.

“Well, when school let out I went down to the courtyard for a drink, but…” Akira turned around, attempting to meet Yoshizawa’s eyes as she kept them downwards. “A girl tripped me, and I fell onto the grass next to the pavement. Before I could get up, more girls crowded around me and kicked dirt on my face and into my hair. I got away before long, but… I don’t understand why they would do that. Is it because of my sister? Is it because I’m an honors student?”

“Those bastards…” Akira whispered, his entire body shaking yet again, but now for a new reason as he noticed tears beginning to fall down Yoshizawa’s face again. The hatred that had been released while fighting those Shadows surged within him. His blood was boiling; this place wasn’t a damn school, it was a prison where the vulnerable are attacked and taken advantage of.

“Kurusu-senpai, please calm down!” Yoshizawa shouted, and Akira had to blink a few times to realize he was now standing and was walking towards the rooftop door. He felt a hand pulling on his sleeve, and Akira saw Yoshizawa behind him looking up with a pleading look in her eyes. 

“So-sorry…” Akira muttered as he attempted to conceal his still brewing anger. “Were there any teachers there?”

“No… And I don’t feel comfortable telling them about it…” 

Akira turned his head around to face Yoshizawa, seeing her looking downwards. “I know the feeling…”

“What do you mean by that?” 

Akira cursed internally as Yoshizawa’s face shot up immediately. Her eyes felt like they were boring through Akira as she stared up at him, the same concern that Akira had found himself associating her with strewn across her face.

“Nevermind,” Akira shook his head as he tried to turn back towards the door, but he still felt Yoshizawa’s eyes laser-focused on the back of his head.

“If you won’t tell me that… then can I ask you something?” Yoshizawa’s voice seemed to get quieter with every word, and Akira felt his chest tighten as he nodded.

“W-well… Um… Are we… friends, Kurusu-Senpai?”

Pain rocketed throughout Akira’s head as all of his doubts, his fears, rushed back to the forefront of his mind.

_Friends? You don’t have those._

_You can’t seriously believe anyone will be your friend._

_You gave up friendship the day they all left you, remember?_

Akira lurched forward, gripping his head with both hands as he tried to gasp for air. His chest felt like it was trying to squeeze out his guts, the pain becoming unbearable as he stumbled towards the wall next to the door.

“Kurusu-senpai!”

“Yoshizawa… please… stay away from me… I’ll just hurt you!” Akira croaked as he reached for the door handle and ripped the door open. The world was blurring quickly as tears began welling up in his eyes, but Akira still tried to step forward.

“Kurusu-senpai, please let me help!” Yoshizawa’s voice was barely above a whisper as Akira stumbled down the stairs. 

_She’s lying._

_Everyone was; you can’t trust anybody but yourself!_

**_Come, and enjoy yourself._ **

As Akira nearly fell onto the platform linking the roof and the third floor, he unconsciously reached down into his pocket for his phone. In one swift action, he swiped over to the second screen and clicked on the Meta-Nav.

**_You can run wild here all you want. Isn’t that what you want?_ **

“Sen...pai… pl...ease wa...it!” Yoshizawa’s voice was barely reaching Akira’s ears as his thumb rested over Kamoshida’s name. Akira’s head felt like it was filled with fog, but it instantly cleared as he pressed down on Kamoshida’s name, and the world around began to shift. The walls of the school turned from plain white to dark brown, the dry wall transforming into hardwood.

The staircase Akira was standing on shifted as well, becoming a dark velvet as Akira stood at the top. His headache had dispersed along with the pool of tears building in his eyes, instead being replaced with sharp focus. He wasn’t in the dungeon where he and Sakamoto had to escape from; if he had to take a guess, he was at least higher up in the castle. 

Yoshizawa began to fade from his mind as Akira looked around in front of him. There were paintings hanging along the walls with a medium sized shelving unit on the ground at the far end of the elevated room. 

“Now, let’s begin,” Akira practically growled, his knife flashing into his hand as he spun around towards the staircase. The numerous questions he had about the castle and the Metaverse would come later; right now he needed to blow off some steam.

The only sound that kept Akira company as he walked down the red hall of the castle. No soldiers, no Shadows; only himself and a growing irritation taking root in him. He wanted to fight Shadows, he wanted to feel that thrill again, but he was alone.

“Just how I want,” Akira muttered, spinning his knife idly as his footsteps rang throughout the hallways. He passed by some expensive looking vases, lush green seats, and a well-crafted bookcase holding what looked to be a porcelain volleyball. 

‘Wait a sec, isn’t Kamoshida the Volleyball coach?’ Akira closed his eyes as his mind began to work; no matter how strange this castle was, it was somehow connected to Kamoshida, and the fact that there were Volleyball related items lying around only supported that thought in Akira’s mind. Along with acting like the king in this castle, Kamoshida was equally high and mighty in school, showing clear outward dissent to students with seemingly no fear of repercussion. 

“Minus the strange outfit, the Kamoshida here acts almost identically to the one at school…” Akira continued his musings as he turned the corner, the red carpet in the middle of the hall leading him to yet another corner with stairs straight ahead of him. 

“Dammit, that’s enough thinking!” Akira smacked himself with his free hand as he reached the top of the stairs. He wanted; no, needed, to fight something. To fight something to get his mind away from Yoshizawa.

“Get out of my head!” 

Akira slammed his foot into the decorative door, swinging it open as its hinges creaked. He was faced with a fairly large room set up with sturdy wooden tables and patterned chairs in the center of the room with vases and bookshelves lining the edges. Still no Shadows, but there were two doors leading out of the room minus the one behind Akira with one of them looking… strange. However, Akira’s irritation was reaching a breaking point as he gripped the slick handle of his knife tightly; he only came here to feel the satisfaction again from the day prior, but his mind was still lurching backwards towards the conversation with Yoshizawa.

‘Those bastards are going to pay for what they did to he–’ Akira’s mind felt like it was on fire as he stumbled through the room. 

She didn’t care about him.

No one did.

They all left him, one by one.

Until there was nothing left, but now…

“God dammit!” Akira roared as he lowered his right shoulder and rammed into the door in front of him, continuing forward with his momentum. His vision was shaking as he entered the foyer of the castle, but he barely was able to jump as he saw the quickly approaching railing overlooking the main floor. All of his emotions he had been holding back were coming out as Akira crashed onto the ground, sending pieces of the flooring into the air as a small crater formed underneath his feet. “Come out and fight me, dammit!” 

“Hmph, it appears near death wasn’t enough to keep you away, was it?” Akira’s eyes widened as he spun towards the familiar voice, but he kicked off the ground immediately as a soldier’s blade came straight for his head. With a twirl in the air, Akira landed just shy of the giant doors to the castle entrance and felt his pistol manifest in a holster on his waist. He didn’t even need a second to take in the situation; Kamoshida(or whatever was wearing his face) was standing at the top of the stairs with his arms outstretched and a smug grin on his face. However, the more pressing issue was the sheer number of soldiers marching onto the main floor. Akira counted fifteen shadows in total, with the one nearest to him in gold plated armor along with a red plume sticking from his helmet.

“‘Bout damn time.” A malicious grin formed on Akira’s face as he reached up for his mask, his tailcoat flowing wildly behind him as the stagnant air began swirling around him. “Kill them all, Arsene!”

Bellows of laughter came from Akira as blue flames erupted in front of him with his mask disappearing as it fell to the ground, and the demonic persona screeched into existence as Akira dashed towards the gold plated Shadow. 

“Hmph, do you really expect to take us down yourself, filth?” The Shadow chuckled as it raised it’s golden sword into the air and sent it hurtling towards Akira. The teen flashed his knife in front of the blade’s path, but Akira sorely underestimated the Shadow’s sheer strength as he was sent flying into the closest pillar. 

Pain rocketed throughout Akira’s back as he landed on all fours, spit rolling from his mouth as he coughed up some blood. “Damn… That one isn’t fucking around…” Akira panted as he struggled to his feet, the golden Shadow standing confidently in front of him. “Eiha!”

Cursed energy began to build up within Arsene’s right hand as the Persona lifted into the air, drawing the attention of the other fourteen Shadows. Then, without prior warning, it soared back downwards towards the Shadow nearest the left staircase, tucking in its wings and twirled as the Shadows attempted to slash at it, and slammed the ball of cursed energy into the taken aback Shadow’s chest. 

“Shit!” Akira barely dodged the golden Shadow’s blade as he rolled past him, slashing at its right calf as he began to spring back to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, Akira saw the Shadow he targeted with Arsene explode into black blood and grinned; one down. 

“Very impressive, trash! You managed to destroy one of my many soldiers!” Kamoshida mocked as he clapped at Akira, his shit-eating grin never leaving his face. 

“Arsene, run wild!” Akira commanded as he drew his pistol and shot three consecutive rounds at the golden Shadow, but all three hit uselessly against its shield. Akira grit his teeth as he saw Arsene begin dancing around the other Shadows, going to swipe at one with its claws before the rest of the Shadows forced the Persona to dodge. 

‘I can’t keep this up forever,’ Akira’s mind raced as he tried to deflect a jab from the Shadow, but its blade still sliced his upper arm as he was barely able to push it away from skewering his chest. Arsene wasn’t fairing much better as half of the Shadows convulsed and transformed; three into the pixies Shadows, three into the impish Shadows with strange pelvises, and one into the pumpkin Shadow. The rest of the Shadows continued attempting to slice at Arsene as it passed through them, weaving in and out of the ranks as it tried to find an opening when one of the untransformed Shadows slammed its shield into Arsene’s back and sent the Persona straight into the ground.

“Agh!” Akira cried out as his already strained back crackled with pain. He barely ducked under the Shadows blade as it swung for his head, but was caught wide open as the butt end of its pointed shield found his chest. His back feeling like it was broken and blood spilling from his mouth, Akira fell to his knees, out of breath as his mask reformed on his face.

“Such a valiant effort, but it was useless in the end.” Akira couldn't muster up any strength to look up at Kamoshida as he let out a string of coughs, his knife disappearing in blues flames underneath him. His ears began ringing as he felt himself start losing consciousness. 

_You were an idiot._

_What were you thinking?_

_Your life is now over, and it’s all your fault._

Cold shivers were sent throughout Akira’s body as metallic hands gripped around his neck, the Shadow he was facing dragging him towards the center of the room. Everything was blurry to Akira as his head lolled. He knew he lost, he knew it was all pointless. Not just the fight, but everything; trusting his parents to always stand by him, loving his friends as if they were family, to even helping that woman. 

“So, where’s that damn ape at, eh? Are you expecting him to come save you any moment?” Kamoshida taunted as Akira saw him approach from the right, but the man’s voice was becoming more distant seemingly with every step.

“No… one will… save me…” Akira managed to get out, spitting out saliva and blood. His chest was tight and his body felt hot and cold simultaneously. This really was the end for him.

“How entertaining. You come into my castle by yourself expecting to take on my men like this? You could barely even take out one, let alone some of my best soldiers!” Kamoshida stopped right in front of Akira as the golden Shadow forced Akira to be face to face with Kamoshida. The man’s face was blurry, but Akira could’ve sworn he saw Kamoshida’s face shift as pink splotches covered his face for a brief moment until it returned to normal. “If you hadn’t tried to infiltrate my castle twice now, you could’ve been a satisfying punching bag for me and my men, but you decided to throw away that gracious opportunity just like that.”

‘Gracious? What’s so gracious about that?’ Akira’s mind and body were about to give out completely, but Akira forced himself to hold his gaze on Kamoshida. All of his hatred, all of his anger, all of his fear; they all disappeared, being replaced with one realization: that this man needed to be brought down.

“Now,” Akira was thrown to the ground by the Shadow choking him as Kamoshida lifted his arm. He was coughing as he attempted to catch his breath, waiting for the inevitable as he could barely move at this point. “Kill h–.”

“Kurusu-senpai!”

The blade meant for Akira’s neck stopped mid-strike as all the Shadows and Kamoshida turned towards the new but all too familiar voice.

“Yoshizawa?” Akira barely got the word out as he attempted to look up from where he was laying, but he was at his limit as his head fell onto the tiled floor.

“Oh? You’re that honors girl, correct?” Kamoshida asked as he fully turned towards Sumire. The redhead couldn’t believe her eyes; not only was Kurusu wearing a strange outfit with a black and white birdlike mask, but there were soldiers and strange creatures surrounding him on the ground. Even worse, the one towering over him had a blade positioned for Kurusu-senpai’s head.

“What are you doing to Kurusu-senpai?” Sumire asked. Her body was trembling as the monsters and strange soldiers turned along with Kamoshida. “Aren’t you a teacher? Why are you treating him like this?”

“What, you mean this trash?” Kamoshida let out a low chuckle as he turned his body and started pressing down on Kurusu’s head with his right foot. “Are you meaning to tell me you don’t know who this is?”

Sumire froze; what did that mean? It was true that she didn’t know Kurusu all that well and that he had been rude to her for the past two days, but…

“Who he is doesn’t matter to me! He was the first person to help me when no one else would even give me a chance!” Sumire found herself nearly screaming at Kamoshida, who she now recognized as the famous Volleyball coach and gym teacher at Shujin. 

“That so, huh? What if I told you he was a murderer, a rapist, and a thief?” The wicked grin on Kamoshida’s face told Sumire all she needed to know as she stood tall at the top of the stairs.

“There’s no way he could do those things!”

“Maybe not, but he did assault someone.”

“Liar!”

Kamoshida raised an eyebrow at Sumire and his smug grin faded as he turned back to her, and Sumire felt her blood chill. “Tell me, have you heard the rumors circulating around someone’s criminal record?”  
Time slowed to a crawl around Sumire; of course she had heard rumors about a criminal transfer student, although most were simply ridiculous. However, the serious look on Kamoshida’s face made her instantly doubt that they were just that: ridiculous.

“That look on your face tells me that you have, and you realize what I’m talking about. This ‘student’ you’re trying to protect is a criminal, Yoshizawa-san.” 

No…

It couldn’t be true…

The person that actually looked at her like a real human being instead of an eyesore, a cursed child…

He couldn’t be a criminal…

Could he?  
Before Sumire knew it, tears had welled up within her eyes as she stared down at Kurusu; his body was motionless with the only sign that he was still alive being his back slowly moving up and down. She couldn’t see him clearly through her tears, but his body was beat up badly with blood splattered on the ground around him. 

When she entered into this castle with him, she was so freaked out that she hid. However, she saw him walk forward with confidence and a slight amount of impatience, like any of this was normal. Like he belonged here, so she followed him from a distance.

“Yoshizawa-san, now that you understand the truth of this scoundrel, let me protect you from him, alright? I promise to keep you safe,” Kamoshida’s voice was smooth as it broke Sumire from her thoughts, and she saw him walking up the left staircase up towards her. “Safe from him, safe from Sakamoto. I will be your knight in shining armor.”  
“Ngh…”

Sumire’s eyes widened as Kamoshida stopped right in front of her; down on the ground, Kurusu began to shift. He still seemed to be unconscious, but his face was contorted in pain, and Sumire saw tears stream down his face.

“Don’t… leave… me…” 

Kamoshida’s face broke into an evil grin as he began towering over Sumire, who fixed her gaze towards the ground.

**_Alone and afraid…_ **

**_That is the state you are in right now…_ **

“Now, what say you give your knight a reward, Yoshizawa-san?” Kamoshida licked his lips as he reached towards Sumire’s breasts with his fingers twitching creepily.

**_Will you continue living in this state, or will you finally take that first step forward?_ **

**_To actually have a friend?_ **

Sumire’s right hand flashed in front of her as she smacked Kamoshida’s hands away.

“What the?!” Kamoshida shouted, and the impish demons below began to fly up towards him and Sumire. “You damn bitch!”

**_So, I take the adamant look in your eyes to be your answer, my dear dancer?_ **

“Yes,” was all Sumire could say as a splitting headache spread from the center of her mind to the outskirts. Her cries of pain filled the large foyer of the castle as she weakly gripped her head and her legs nearly gave out.

**_I am thou, thou art I…_ **

**_My dear dancer, will you choose this path of strife?_ **

**_To take this first step will deliver you pain at every turn…_ **

**_However, the pain you feel now will lead towards a new potential…_ **

**_A potential to dance freely as you are now!_ **

**“** Tch… You too then?” Sumire could barely hear Kamoshida as she stumbled backwards and fell onto her buttocks, her mind feeling like it was splitting apart as a sudden warmth began spreading within her chest. All too soon, the warmth spread all throughout her body and she felt… revitalized. For the first time in what felt like ages, she wanted to do something. She wanted to fight back.

She wanted to save Kurusu.

“All I wanted was to escape her shadow, to be myself…” Sumire began as she struggled to her feet, saliva dripping from her somehow dry lips as she locked onto Kurusu’s body. “I just wanted to be accepted for who I am, to feel proud of who Sumire is…”

A flash of blue flames engulfed her face, but they didn’t burn as she felt something begin to form within the flames. The object forming on her face felt mask-like as the flames began to disperse, and she could feel an immense amount of energy bubbling within her core. 

She wanted to get to know; no, needed, to know Kurusu better.

Taking a deep breath in, Sumire wrapped both hands around her mask that replaced her glasses. Then, in one fluid motion, she ripped it downwards, feeling the skin around her eyes following the mask as blood splattered onto the ground and down her face. However, she didn’t feel any pain as the blue flames burst around her, and she reached upwards with her eyes widened.

“Come, Cendrillon!”

Her Shujin uniform began shimmering in the dimly lit foyer as a burst of wind spiraled from her body. Kamoshida was sent flying backwards while the impish demons were forced to stop midair and simply glare at Sumire, whose body was being completely concealed with a shining light. She wasn’t afraid, however; her mind was focused only on saving Kurusu.

With a blinding flash of light, all of the monsters surrounding Kurusu were blown away with Kamoshida covering his head in fear. Sumire felt her outstretched hand wrap around a cold handle as she lowered it, holding the still-gleaming sword steady in front of her. Beside her, she saw another being rise and fall in the air; a beautiful black skinned woman wearing a skintight blue dress along with a flowing white cape behind her. However, Sumire not only saw this woman next to her, but she also felt her. Every movement the woman took, Sumire felt deep within her.

“Go!” 

With amazing speed, the woman, Cendrillon, dove towards the hoard of monsters and soldiers that were still attempting to steady themselves. Sumire’s eyes were wide open as Cendrillon dove past four soldiers and spun midair before skewering the pumpkin demon with her pointed leg. Black blood sputtered from the gaping hole Cendrillon created in the demon as she ripped her leg out and turned to face the other demons and soldiers. The golden soldier moved back above Kurusu’s body and lifted its heavy leg above Kurusu’s head.

Sumire didn’t have time to think as her body moved faster than it ever had before, and she was suddenly in front of the golden soldier with her rapier stuck square in the soldier's mask.

“Damn bitch! You believe you can defeat me, a loyal subject of King Kamoshida?” The soldier roared as Sumire ripped her blade from its cracked mask, black blood spluttering from the new wound as it stumbled backwards. 

“King?” Sumire questioned, but she shook her head violently. “No, that doesn’t matter right now. Cendrillon, Dia!” 

As she finished shouting out the command, Cendrillon dashed above one of the imps attempting to impale her with its protruding pelvis and stuck out her arms towards Sumire and Kurusu. Green light began swirling around Kurusu and into his prone body, and as Sumire gracefully tumbled under the golden soldiers giant sword, she saw Kurusu begin to stir beside her and his eyes flew open.

“Kurusu-senpai!” Sumire exclaimed as she saw the black haired teen shake his head and blink slowly.

“Yoshizawa-san? What are you doing here?” Kurusu asked as he forced himself to his feet, but Sumire didn’t have a chance to respond as she swiped the golden soldier’s sword away with a quick stroke. Cendrillon was flying circles around the other demons and soldiers, but she was unable to land a hit as one would attack as Cendrillon found an opening.

“Please, help me Kurusu-senpai so we can talk!” Sumire spun as a thrust from the soldier barely missed her, and she was able to get a look at Kurusu’s face. He was hesitant and afraid, his eyes clearly showed behind his mask.

“Oh? Is the trash of society finally getting back up for round two?” Kamoshida’s mocking voice rang throughout the hall, and all of the fighting ceased suddenly as Kurusu collapsed again.

“Kurusu-senpai, what’s wrong?!” Sumire got to her knees and put a hand on Kurusu’s back, and she finally realized she was wearing red gloves as she felt his body shaking.

“Get away… get away!” Kurusu screamed at the ground. Sumire winced backwards but kept her hand on his back as malicious laughter echoed throughout the foyer.

“Don’t you hear the criminal scum? He wants you to get away, Yoshizawa-san, so why don’t you come back up to me?”

Sumire felt disgusted as she looked up at Kamoshida; never in her life had she doubted a teacher’s good intentions, but now… now was different.

“Yoshizawa-san… get out of here… now before I get you killed,” Kurusu cried towards the ground. Sumire’s head darted back towards him and her mouth opened as she saw tears falling to the ground. “I’m sure he already told you about my record and the rumors about me, so go!”

“Kurusu-senpai, I–.”

“Just leave me alone!”

“I don’t believe them, Kurusu-senpai!” Sumire shouted over Kurusu’s pleads followed by complete silence. “Like you told me before, ‘Most of those are bullshit, and they do nothing but bring people down.’, right?” 

Kurusu raised his head towards Sumire slowly, and Sumire saw how much pain he really was in as tears covered his face. “But… what about my record?”

“Of how you assaulted someone? I… I don’t believe that you would be the person to do that,” Sumire let a small smile play onto her face as she stared at Kurusu.

“What reason do you have to believe that? I’ve been nothing but terrible to you for the past two days!” 

“I was able to see a softer side of you today when you offered to help me. A kinder side, where you were willing to sit and listen to me. No one else in the school would even look at me for anything but my gymnastics skills, but you… you talked to me.”

“So? What does that have anything to do with my record?” Kurusu continued to shout at Sumire, but her face was calm as her mask reappeared on her face.

“Kurusu-senpai, did you assault that person?” 

“Of course I didn’t! Just no one else will believe me!”

“I believe you.” Kurusu stopped as Sumire finished saying those three words; it appeared like she finally broke through to him. “I will form my own opinions on people, and I believe you wouldn’t do that.”  
“Based on the fact that I spoke to you?” Kurusu looked downwards as he spoke, his voice cracking midway through the sentence.

“Because you were the only one to speak to me, Senpai. So please, stand up and let me get to know you better.”

Kurusu’s eyes were still shining in the dull lights of the foyer as he stared at Sumire, but he closed them as he slowly got to his feet. Sumire followed him up, a genuine smile on her face as Kurusu stood straight and faced the golden soldier, his gray eyes flashing open. “You have a persona as well, right Yoshizawa-san?”

“Persona? Oh, do you mean Cendrillon?” Sumire tilted her head up towards Kurusu who simply nodded at her response and reached up for his mask.

“Come, Arsene!” 

Sumire followed his lead as she also reached back up for her mask, the monsters and soldiers positioning towards them as two flashes of blue flames appeared and disappeared in front of them, revealing Cendrillon and what Sumire assumed to be Arsene. 

“Go!” In unison, the two teens shouted as Sumire dashed forward with her rapier outstretched, feeling the pressure from Cendrillon as her persona rocketed towards the soldier towards the back of the monsters. Diving in between two imps’ glowing pelvises, Sumire drew back her shining sword before sending a flurry of cuts towards two soldiers. Black blood began seeping from each cut Sumire made into the soldiers and she pulled back to finish one of them off, but she didn’t see the bolt of electricity hurtling towards her until it was mere inches away from her.

“Watch out!” Kurusu’s voice rang out as the electricity seemed to slow down, and Sumire barely ducked underneath it as the arc exploded into a nearby pillar, scattering pieces of marble across the floor. Sumire looked over where Kurusu’s voice came from, and her eyes widened as she saw him and Arsene right next to each other fighting off the fairy-like monsters along with the other two soldiers.

One of the fairies had fallen to the ground, a large gash across its tiny body as it attempted to float back up. However, Kurusu spun his knife around and jammed it into the fairy’s neck, its black blood squirting onto Kurusu's face and the ground as it burst into dust and blood. “Eiha!” 

Sumire nearly gasped as she saw Kurusu turn towards the remaining two fairies and saw Arsene slam his hand into the ground. The stone around Arsene’s hand began to shake as dark energy began building up underneath the fairy on the left, but as Sumire was getting fully entranced in the fight, the two badly wounded soldiers swung again at her, forcing her to flip backwards before landing at the bottom of the staircase.

As she steadied herself, Sumire felt a warm liquid run down her arm and she looked down to see her black sleeve cut open and a shallow cut running across her bicep. However, the cut barely hurt as Sumire looked back at the two soldiers to see the three imps flying behind them, all of their pelvises glowing a strange gray color.

Sumire felt a sudden rush within her as she leveled her gaze at the imps, and Cendrillon’s hands began glowing an intense white. “Cendrillon, Kouha!” At her command, Sumire’s persona shot straight for the imp nearest to it, her arms stretched out fully before bringing them both in front as the two orbs of light converged into one. A screech filled the foyer followed by silence as the imp was engulfed completely by the light, not even a speck of blood being left behind as Cendrillon gracefully flew back behind Sumire. The two remaining imps actually looked scared as they moved their attention from where the other imp had been towards Sumire and Cendrillon, but Sumire didn’t give them an opportunity to counter attack as she kicked off the tiled floor towards them. However, the two cut up soldiers she was facing before stumbled into her way, forcing her to skid to a stop before she skewered herself on their outstretched swords.

“Cleave!” Sumire shouted as she used the rest of her momentum to roll to the right, dodging the right soldier's sword as she jumped to her feet behind the soldier. Time felt as if it slowed down as she slashed from the bottom of the soldier to its head, her blade ripping and tearing through the somehow fragile armor of the soldier as its black blood formed a pool underneath it. To her right, Sumire saw Cendrillon’s leg impale the soldier's shoulder and rip its leg horizontally, the soldier’s head and neck clean off before it and the body dissipated into black sludge and dust.

“Nice work, Yoshizawa-san! We just have those two and the big guy left!” Kurusu’s voice reached Sumire’s ears from her left, and as she looked over she saw the black blood covering Kurusu fade into nothing as he turned towards the golden soldier.

“Right! I’ll finish these off and then come to help you!” As she finished speaking, Sumire darted forward towards the still-terrified imps with Cendrillon at her side. The same bright white energy gathered within Cendrillon’s hands, but Sumire felt like she could control it better now and remembered what Arsene did earlier. “Slam it down, Cendrillon!”

Her persona did just that as Sumire continued to run forward, barely getting grazed by the right imp’s pelvis as it frantically charged at her. However, the wound made by the demon on her stomach was not even deep enough to draw much blood, and Sumire used the demon’s inability to stop in time to stab upwards. Cold steel met the demon’s soft flesh as Sumire’s rapier impaled the imp three times, its blood splattering upwards as it fell to the ground before dissipating. Just as it did, Sumire looked over as two balls of light shot up from the ground and spun around the remaining imp, which attempted to fly away, but it was too late as its body was completely decimated.

“Kurusu-senpai, I did it!” Sumire spun around, a serious glint in her eyes as she saw Kurusu and the golden soldier’s blades locked together. 

“What are you doing in here, Frizzy Hair?!” A high-pitched voice came from Sumire’s right, and her mouth opened wide as she saw a… cat? With a cartoonishly large head standing in an open doorway.

“Morgana, help us out here!” Kurusu shouted, not a trace of hesitation in his voice as he slid his knife out from under the soldiers blade while spinning and slashing at the soldier as it brought its shield up.

“We can’t win against that thing, let’s just run for now!” The creature, Morgana apparently, called out. Just as he finished and as Kurusu jumped back and slid next to Sumire, black sludge exploded from seemingly nowhere as more soldiers rose up from the ground. “See? We’ll just get killed in here!”

“Alright, lead the way then!” Sumire didn’t have time to process everything as Kurusu grabbed hold on her wrist and practically dragged her towards the door. In her attempt to gain her bearings, she noticed the stark similarities to her outfit and Kurusu’s, from their red gloves to the black coats flowing behind them. However, she couldn’t process it all as Kurusu led her into a small room where the monster cat was waiting, and as they stopped she felt a sudden wave of exhaustion crash over her.

“Hey, you overexerted yourself a lot back there. Are you okay?” Kurusu asked as he looked her up and down, his eyes lingering on the cut on her stomach.

“Here, let me get you two patched up before you get out of here.” Morgana’s face scrunched up in concentration as green light poured into both Sumire’s and Kurusu’s bodies, and Sumire felt both the cut on her arm and stomach heal fully and even saw Kurusu stand up straighter.

“Yeah, I’ll be alright, especially after that,” Sumire gave Kurusu a quick nod as she steadied herself; she felt severely light headed and felt ready to topple over, but she forced herself to stay on her feet as Kurusu turned towards Morgana.

“I have questions for you, but that comes as soon as we get outside.”

“Oh, you seem much more cooperative today. It suits you a lot better,” Morgana said as he bounced towards the large shelves spanning the wall before jumping up onto them and climbing through an open air vent.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” Kurusu tugged at Sumire’s sleeve before following Morgana’s example, but he waited and looked at Sumire as she stared up at him. “Here, let me help you up. You saved me, after all.”

“O-oh, got it!” Sumire weakly exclaimed as she reached up towards Kurusu and he gripped her hand and pulled her up. For just the briefest of moments, she could’ve sworn she saw a smile tug at Kurusu’s lips. After Kurusu led her through the small air vent and jumped down outside, Sumire followed suit and landed next to Kurusu and Morgana.

“I would love to chat with you two, but this place is on super high alert! I wouldn’t be surprised if some guards came outside looking for us, so we gotta split today!” Morgana whispered at the two teens, with Sumire nodding but Kurusu frowned slightly at the cat.

“Could you come with us? I need to know more about this place,” he whispered back, and Morgana stopped and crossed his arms, clearly in thought.

“Alright, follow me then!” The cat exclaimed suddenly, cartoonishly dashing towards the staircase that led towards the street that should be running alongside Shujin Academy. Now that Sumire could think about it slowly, she was at a total loss at what just happened. She fought and killed monsters, she summoned what seemed to be an ethereal being, and now her and Kurusu’s clothes had changed. What more, theirs were remarkably similar, obviously minus the skintight black leotard Sumire wore along with her sleek pointed black mask.

“Yoshizawa-san, we need to go!” Kurusu’s whisper-shout broke Sumire from her musings as she saw urgency within his gray eyes, and she nodded as she followed after Kurusu as he began running towards the stone stairs. However, as they reached the stairs, Kurusu stopped abruptly, causing Sumire to do so as well as he turned and looked directly at her.

“What is it, Kurusu-senpai?” Sumire asked, nervously looking back at the castle. It seemed much more imposing and threatening from afar than from up close.

“Well, I wanted to thank you for back there,” Kurusu said simply, bowing his head towards Sumire.

“Kurusu-senpai, it was the natural thing to d–” 

“Not just saving my life, but…” Kurusu paused as he kept his head faced towards the ground, and his body began shaking slightly. “But for believing me.”

Sumire stared in awe at Kurusu as she saw tears begin to fall from his face, but he didn’t seem sad or upset as he brought his head back up. In fact, his face was brighter, his mask’s eye holes holding back his tears somewhat as he stared at Sumire, who allowed a smile as she looked up at him.

“I was just repaying the favor from earlier today, Kurusu-senpai.” Sumire’s smile grew wider as Kurusu’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh, and you can just call me by my first name, no honorifics needed. It seems like you’re more used to that anyways.”

She saw as Kurusu’s face broke into a grin, and she felt her smile grow even larger. “Only if you call me Akira then, no honorifics as we–”

“I’ll stick with Akira-senpai,” Sumire cut in while shaking her head. “Or simply Senpai, if that’s what you want.”

“Whatever works for you,” Akira responded, letting out a small sigh. Sumire gave Akira a thumb’s up before she turned towards the stairs, but stopped as Akira wasn’t moving. “Sumire, do you remember what you asked me earlier today? If we were friends?”

Sumire turned back around, both afraid of continuing the conversation and excited to finally hear his response as she nodded.

“Well… I think we are now, as long as you’re okay with–”

“Of course I am, Akira-senpai!” Sumire loudly exclaimed. Akira’s eyes widened again but quickly softened before letting out a chuckle.

“A friend, huh?”

“Senpai?” Sumire tilted her head as Akira continued to chuckle, walking slowly down the steps as she followed beside him and leaving the castle behind them.

_I am thou, thou art I…_

_This new vow to stand together_

_against the world is forged from thy shattered soul…_

_In breaking free of doubt, the chain that impedes_

_thee, is thy strength of heart made manifest._

_With the birth of the Faith Persona,_

_thou hast obtained the wings of blessing_

_that hath put the first piece of thy heart back into place..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say here other than Akira's and Sumire's relationship will be the main focus of this story. They are both broken down by society, but together they will build each other back up. If you have any questions about this chapter from the combat to their relationship as a whole, please feel free to ask me in the comments and I'll be sure to get around to them. Thank you all as always, and I hope to see you in chapter 5.
> 
> EDIT: Just in case anyone was wondering, the POV will bounce between Akira and Sumire throughout this story and only them. It will also be inconsistent, with Akira being the one we follow the most.


	5. Decisions

“So that really was Kamoshida back there, or at least his shadow…” Akira leaned back into the booth with his cup of coffee in his hand. 

“That’s right! Do you remember what else I said about his palace?” Morgana chirped from within Akira’s bag. The black haired teen turned his attention towards the source of the sound and closed his eyes.

After returning to the real world, Akira and Sumire were immediately shocked to see not the cartoonish cat in front of them but a normal black cat sitting at the base of the stairs. Even more surprising was when they could actually understand it, but Akira heard people coming from behind them so he acted quickly by picking Morgana up by the scruff of his neck and jamming the cat into his bag before Sumire led him to a diner in Shibuya.

“Yeah, I remember…” Akira slowly reopened his eyes and took a sip of his coffee. “Basically it's his distorted view of the world, specifically Shujin.” Out of the corner of his eyes, Akira saw Morgana vigorously nodding his head at the end of the table

“Right again! Man, I knew you were quick on the uptake but this is impressive!” 

Akira let out a sigh as he leaned forward onto the table separating him and Sumire. Despite being nearly killed by a bunch of monsters and going to another world, the fact that a talking cat was in front of Akira was the weirdest thing to him and he didn’t really know how to react. He shook his head before looking up at Sumire. 

Her glasses, along with Akira’s, had reappeared once they returned to reality, and the wounds she had before that green light enveloped them were gone as well. “What do you make of this, Sumire?”

The girl jumped slightly in her seat, her eyes darting from the table and the two clean plates that previously held a stack of pancakes up towards Akira. “M-me? Well, I certainly think that Kamoshida acts similarly out in the real world to how he did in there, so it makes sense…”

“That’s not what I was talking about,” Akira said as he shook his head with Sumire frowning at him and, what Akira could only assume, Morgana trying his best to frown. “I’m talking about you, Morgana. How come you aren’t some monster cat anymore, but now just a regular house cat?”

“I told you, I am not a ca-ermph!” Morgana’s quick outburst was cut off as Akira forced the cat’s head back into his bag and zipped it up. 

“Did you hear that?” Akira heard a woman behind him ask, but he didn’t dare look back as he returned to a normal sitting position. He caught Sumire’s gaze and let out a small sigh; she had an amused smile on her face.

_Is t...s rea...y o...ka…_

‘Shut up.’

Behind him, Akira heard quite a lot of shuffling as he saw some movement to his left as he tried to hold back himself from grimacing from the sudden rush of pain in his head.

“It was probably just your imagination. Let’s get on out of here.” Akira shifted his head slightly to see a man and a woman, probably in their mid thirties, straightening themselves before walking off towards the exit of the cafe hand in hand. 

“Alright, you can come out now.” Akira shook his head as he turned back towards the bag and stared as it rumbled slightly before Morgana’s head popped out.

“Meow! I thought I was going to die in the–” Akira’s hand shot back towards Morgana as his eyes flared up in annoyance, and the cat quickly let out a ‘meow’ as he dodged Akira’s hand before going quiet.

“Jesus, can’t you just talk at a normal level?” Akira shook his head as he felt a headache creep up.

“S-sorry…” Morgana lowered his head for a brief moment before looking back up towards Akira and Sumire. “Anyways, you guys wanted to know about me?”

“Y-yeah,” Sumire answered. Akira stole a glance towards her and noticed she seemed noticeably shocked. However, before he could look away, Sumire noticed him looking over. “Oh, sorry. It’s just that that was a very sudden mood shift from you, Morgana-kun.”

“Really?” Morgana shot up slightly with a sheepish look on his face, if cats could even have those. “I guess it's just my nature…”

“Ahem.” Akira coughed into his fist, getting the two’s attention instantly. “You were saying, Morgana?”

“Oh! Well it's simple really; my original form is human but at some point I was turned into a cat. However, I think I know how to turn back into a human! I just need to–”

“Just tell us why you’re a normal cat right now,” Akira stated plainly, but he made sure his eyes were sharp as he bore them into Morgana, which the cat seemed to take seriously as it jumped slightly.

“Do you remember when I told you two that Palaces only exist because of their rulers’ distorted desires and cognition?” Akira and Sumire both nodded simultaneously, allowing Morgana to continue on. “Well, their cognition not only affects the Palace but also any intruders that go into them; a.k.a., us. To prevent the distortions from affecting those with strong wills, their clothes change into what their ideal idea of justice is. My clothes do change, but my physical form also changes so I can fight in there.”

“Wait, so why were my and Senpai’s clothes so similar?” Sumire spoke up, Akira and Morgana looking towards her.

“So you noticed it as well…” Akira muttered to himself. ‘If it’s based on our views of justice, then we might be more similar than I previously thought. But even still, the similarities were a bit much to be a simple coincidence…’

“This is just a guess, but your idea of justice might involve something to do with Akira over there,” Morgana said, and Akira could sense a slight amount of playfulness in the cat’s voice. Even more, he noticed Sumire begin to play with a lock of her hair as she looked downwards, and he felt something foreign stir within him that made him uncomfortable, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

“I understand that Palaces are created from distorted desires, but what can be done about them?” Akira asked as he turned towards Morgana in an attempt to shift the conversation.

“I’m glad you asked!” Morgana excitedly chirped as he nearly leapt out of Akira’s bag, but the teen’s face darkening made the cat retreat back sulkily. “Well, there’s this thing in Palaces I call Treasures, the core of the distorted desires that allows the Palace to continue standing.”

Akira leaned back in his seat again and took another sip of the still warm coffee. “I take it if we remove this Treasure, the Palace will fall?”

“Correct!” Morgana’s face was bright as he looked up at Akira, but Akira kept his face even as he set his cup back on the table. “...well, I think…”

“You ‘think’?” Akira raised his eyebrows as he crossed his arms. 

“Well, the thing is… I’ve never found one successfully…” Morgana lowered his head.

“So most of this was simply guesswork?” Akira asked, his voice filled with annoyance as he glared at Morgana.

“Senpai, it’s alright…” Sumire cut in, taking Akira’s gaze off of Morgana as he saw her waving him down. Akira let out a sigh as he saw Sumire’s nerves clear on her face, closing his eyes as he did so before looking back at Morgana.

“It’s not entirely guesswork; I’m certain on almost everything, it’s just that I’m not entirely sure where the Treasure will be or even what it is.”

“So it’s different for every Palace ruler?” Sumire asked as she let her hands fall onto the middle of the table, and Morgana nodded at Sumire.

“That would be my assumption.”

Akira began to feel uneasy, a similar feeling when he ran into Sumire earlier in the day. He didn’t like all the guesswork that was going on, but the cat was the only source of information about that other world, which he called the Metaverse. He wasn’t even sure why he cared at al–

‘No, it’s because of that shitbag Kamoshida that I care.’ 

“Morgana, what would happen if we extracted Kamoshida’s Treasure?”

“Oh? Are you interested in thieving?” Morgana playfully asked, but Akira kept his face calm and steady, forcing Morgana to break as the cat sighed. “Well, a person’s Treasure is the core of their distorted desires, so if we remove that from their Palace, then those desires would go as well.”

“Wait, really?” Akira looked over to see Sumire leaning towards Morgana, her face serious as she stared at him before what appeared to be realization crossed her face and she leaned back into her seat. “I just… I’ve heard rumors about Kamoshida and how if you go around his office when no one is around you’ll hear screaming, so I was wondering if that would stop if we do take this Treasure.”

“There were people in volleyball uniforms in the dungeon yesterday, so that would make sense…” Akira brought his hand up to his chin and furrowed his brows. If Kamoshida was really that outwardly scummy towards his own players that he would abuse them in school, there’s no telling what he would do to Akira or Sumire, even around other teachers. Everyone in the building looked up to Kamoshida, exactly how it was in the Pala–

“Yesterday? Dungeon?” Sumire’s soft voice shattered Akira’s thoughts as he looked up, and he froze; Sumire was looking at him intently, her eyes wide and filled with concern with her body leaning over the table. 

“It’s nothing Sumire, don’t worry about it,” Akira said, waving his hand in front of him in an attempt to calm Sumire down, but the concern and worry in her eyes didn’t leave as she continued to stare at Akira.

“Is that when you awakened to your… What did you call it? Persona?” 

Before Akira could respond, he stopped himself. The memory of the viciousness of his attacks and how good it felt rushed back, and he remembered why he even entered the Palace today. He was angry and terrified; angry at the world and terrified of being vulnerable to even one person, and he needed an escape. However, as he was fighting alongside Sumire, he didn’t feel the rush from the previous day but only the desire to stay alive, to keep Sumire alive. 

“Senpai?” Once again, Sumire broke Akira from his daze as her face was even closer to his, so much that he could feel her warm breath hitting his face.

“Sumire, please back up a little,” Akira said calmly, and Sumire yelped and leapt backwards into her seat as her cheeks turned a bright pink. Heads from around the cafe shot over towards the table, but Akira didn’t feel the usual effect of so many stares. In fact, he felt a smile begin to tug at the corner of his lips, but he shook his head before looking at Sumire. “It’s alright. To answer your question; yes, that is where I summoned Arsene.”

“I wasn’t there, but you showed some real power in the fights afterwards,” Morgana chimed in before looking towards Sumire. “Also, I only got there at the end, but you seemed to be able to fight on par with that guy. Say… What do you two say about joining me in stealing that Treasure?”

“You mean Kamoshida’s Treasure?” Akira’s face scrunched as he looked towards Morgana. He was thinking about doing the same, but it shocked him that Morgana would be the one to ask. Morgana nodded his head as he shifted inside Akira’s bag.

“I’ve been needing some help for a while, and you two might even be stronger than me. If all three of us work together, I’m sure we can steal his Treasure!” 

“This is the last time I’m going to tell you: be quiet,” Akira said as slowly as possible, and Morgana gulped before nodding his head again, this time slower. “I’ve been thinking about this ever since you started explaining, but since there’s a direct connection to Kamoshida’s cognition, is there a catch to this?”

Akira saw Sumire’s eyes widen slightly as Morgana stared back up at him. “There is one. Desires are what keep humans alive, what keeps us breathing, eating, drinking. If we somehow screw this up, all of those essential desires could go as well.”

“Does that mean he can die?!” Sumire gasped as her right hand flew in front of her open mouth, and the only response Morgana gave was nodding his head. 

Akira grit his teeth; he didn’t have any problems with stealing Kamoshida’s Treasure. If he died, no one would know of their involvement, and to Akira, the asshole deserved it . However, the look in Sumire’s eyes told him that she was against it, and Akira felt a sudden rush of pain shoot through his chest. 

Was he really okay with killing someone?

Even if they deserved it?

Was he really that broken?

“Akira-senpai?” For the third time, Akira’s head shot up to see Sumire looking at him. “Are you okay?” Akira looked from Sumire to Morgana; both of them were looking up at him in concern. However, his eye twitched and he felt slightly irritated as he passed over Morgana, but he shook off the feeling with two heavy swings of his head.

“I’m alright, sorry about that,” Akira reassured Sumire after taking a deep breath, but Sumire didn’t seem to be convinced as her eyes narrowed towards him.

“Senpai, we’re friends now, you can trust me.” Sumire’s face was soft and kind as Akira stared at her, his vision wavering for a brief moment before he closed his eyes. Taking one final breath in, Akira reopened his eyes to see Sumire still staring at him.

“I’m fine; really,” Akira finally responded, and he could see the emotions swirling in Sumire’s eyes. She clearly wanted him to rely on her, but he wasn’t ready.

Akira reached over for his bag and picked it up, Morgana and all, as he slid out of the booth. “We’ve been here long enough, and I need to get back to my place.” Akira had his back to Sumire as he stood up, but he could feel her eyes on the back of his head.

“Alright…” He heard Sumire behind him mutter along with some rustling as he felt her presence grew closer. 

“Hey, Sumire,” Akira called out as Sumire was walking towards the door, and she stopped and turned around. Another shot of pain rocketed through Akira’s chest, but he kept his face still as he stared at Sumire’s downtrodden face. “Let’s hang out tomorrow during the Volleyball rally, okay?”

The pain dispersed as the girl’s face lit up nearly instantaneously and the smile threatened Akira’s face once again. “Of course! I’ll see you then, Senpai!” With that, Sumire left the diner waving at Akira who was simply waving back.

“So what are you going to do, Morgana?” Akira asked, and felt his bag rustle as he made his way out of the cafe and into the busy street. The big city still bothered him with its huge crowds and the giant buildings surrounding him at every turn, but for some reason the feeling of unease, the feeling of constantly being watched, of being judged by everyone, was gone. At least out in public; Shujin Academy was a completely different beast.

“Well, I’d rather not go back into the Metaverse and wait for your guys’ answers,” Morgana began as he sprung out of Akira’s bag, his front paws landing on Akira’s shoulder. “I only know you and that blonde guy and now Sumire, and, well, I don’t really know those two, so I elect I stay with you!”

“No way.” Akira’s answer was swift as he made his way towards the subway, pushing through a small crowd of people just to get to Central Square.

“Why not?” Morgana yelped right in Akira’s ear and immediately backed off as Akira winced and subsequently glared at him.

“I don’t need you constantly in my ear,” Akira replied truthfully. In fact, being in contact with anyone constantly would be Akira’s worst nightmare; he would much rather be alone. “Also I doubt my caretaker would be happy about me bringing a pet home.”

“I am not a pet!” Morgana shouted behind Akira, who only sighed this time as he stopped at the train platform.

“To him you would be, so let that go already,” Akira groaned, ignoring the confused glances of the people around him. 

“B-but I could be useful to you! I can show you how to make a whole lot of things that would be extremely helpful in the Metaverse!” Morgana quickly chattered as Akira pulled out his phone and began tapping idly on it.

“You teaching me that stuff doesn’t require me to provide you with housing,” Akira replied nonchalantly, trying to mask his growing irritation with the cat. The train really couldn’t come any faster.

“You don’t understand living in the Metaverse! Those soldiers are constantly on guard and searching for me in there!” Morgana continued trying to explain to Akira, and Akira felt his will to keep arguing crumble as he let out a sigh and put away his phone.

“Fine, I’ll let you stay with me, but you’re not staying in my bag the entire day. You’ll have to find something else to do,” Akira said, groaning as he heard the train down the tunnel before it came into view. He wasn’t able to hear Morgana all that well due to the noise, but he assumed the cat said “Thank you” before diving back into his bag.

‘It’s the least I can do for him for telling me all that, I guess.’

* * *

“Oh, you’re back actually earlier than I expec- What the hell is that?” Sojiro began as Akira entered Leblanc before seeing Morgana, whose front paws were on Akira’s shoulders. ‘A reasonable reaction…’

“He didn’t have a home and kept following me…” Akira responded, and noticed the immediate shift on Sojiro’s face as it softened.

“Well… that’s a shame. Does he have a name?” Sojiro asked.

“Morgana.”

To Akira’s surprise, Sojiro actually looked somewhat disappointed before shaking his head and motioning for the stairs to the attic. “I’m still open, so take him upstairs. You’ll be the one to look after him, alright?”

Akira simply nodded as he walked past Sojiro and began to make his way upstairs, not without hearing first Sojiro mutter “The kid seems different…”, but Akira kept his eyes forward as he climbed upstairs.

“Ugh, it’s musty as hell up here!” Morgana complained as Akira set down his bag in the normal place and the cat jumped out, landing softly on the wooden floor in front of Akira.

“Get used to it,” was all Akira responded with as he grabbed his books and headed for the table he worked on the day before. He heard Morgana’s soft footsteps approach him as he threw his headphones on and put on his music, and became immediately focused on his school work as the smooth sounds of the alto saxophone reached his ears.

“Get down from the bed,” Akira said as he put his math book to the side, around an hour and a half into doing work. He didn’t hear Morgana’s yelp due to his headphones, but he saw the black cat jolt slightly out of the corner of his eyes before doing as told. Akira felt the floor behind him shift and began tapping his pencil against the wooden desk. 

‘This is going to take some time.’

As Akira finished his Social Studies work, he let out a giant yawn as he stretched his arms into the air. The sun had set not too long ago, and he just realized Sojiro had left a plate of store bought tuna on the floor near the stairs as the attic reeked of fish but the plate was wiped clean. Getting to his feet, Akira felt a wave of exhaustion hit him as he steadied himself. As he did, his eyes landed near the foot of the bed and shook his head as he found Morgana curled up into a ball.

“Whatever, I’ll talk to him about boundaries tomorrow,” Akira said idly while yawning, and laid down on the bed in one motion. As what felt like routine, the events of the day flashed through his mind, but unusually the normal thoughts that plagued his mind stayed away as he focused on Sumire. 

‘She really is something else entirely… I’m still not sure what the hell I’m doing with her, but it's not like I can back out now,’ Akira thought to himself as his eyes began to fall, and his mouth moved unconsciously into a smile. ‘A friend…’

“Ah!” Akira awoke with a start, and the rattling of chains and the chill in the air told him exactly where he was. However, unlike his previous two visits to the Velvet Room, he woke up lying down instead of being chained to the wall. He was still chained to it, he noted internally as he shifted himself into a sitting position, but the chains were noticeably longer, long enough for him to nearly move freely in his cell.

“I see you have awakened. Welcome to the Velvet Room,” Igor’s voice boomed around the circular room, and Akira felt two icy glares as he got to his feet, letting out a small groan in the process. “I thought about resuming our conversation tonight, so that is why I summoned you.” 

With heavy steps, Akira faced Igor and the twin wardens, trying his best to ignore the hostile gazes of the two as his hands found their places on the cold metal bars. Luckily he didn’t need to worry about them as they turned towards Igor, but now Akira felt the full force of Igor’s unsettling gaze. However, he tried to ignore the feeling as he gave Igor a blank stare, and the man let out a chuckle.

“What are your thoughts? Are you becoming accustomed to this place?”

“More or less,” Akira responded curtly. 

“Glad to hear it. It appears you are stronger than you let on previously.” Igor’s continued chuckling bounced around the blue walls of the room, sending chills down Akira’s spine but Akira made sure not to waver. “Now, onto our business about rehabilitation. It’s goal is to thwart ruin, but as I’m sure you found earlier today, such a feat cannot be done alone. Today you forged a partnership with someone who awoke to the same power, correct?”

“Sumire, yes.”

“Justine, if you may come to me,” Igor said, and Akira’s face wrinkled up as the twin with the clipboard walked towards the longnose man and presented said clipboard in front so Akira could see as well. To his amazement, a card letting off a blue light rose from the pages of the clipboard before stopping above it. Akira could barely see, but it seemed to have some religious leader being carried by two servants along with the French words “La Foi” along the bottom. 

“How intriguing… It appears this bond you have created is much stronger than most starting out,” Igor commented as he stared at the card, with Akira doing the same. His eyes glazed over as Sumire appeared in front of him, and his heart began to swell slightly. “Hm… however, it also appears that both sides of this bond are very fragile, as if a breeze would crumble either side. Take care to nurture this bond, for I believe it will prove most beneficial to you in avoiding the coming ruin.” 

Just as Igor finished, the card shattered into tiny blue particles that seemed almost like crystal shards, and Akira met Igor’s gaze once again as Justine walked back to her spot in front of his cell. “I also believe it would be prudent of you to create other bonds, but as you are now I do not believe you are capable of such a feat. In that case, continue nursing the Faith Arcana and allow this bond to build you back up so that you may reach the point of forming bonds with others.”

“This bond of yours is already strong, so the power of the personas you gain will also increase,” Justine said calmly as she turned towards Akira.

“There are others that have strengths that someone like you doesn’t have, but like Master said you’re not capable of that right now… Just keep it in mind, alright Inmate!” Caroline began softly but suddenly struck the bars of Akira’s cell, causing him to flinch slightly.

“Haha… Even though I stated you are not capable of creating bonds as you are now, you have already begun healing. You should be prepared to use even myself, or you will never reform completely.”

Time began to slow for Akira, and his head began to clear as his chest felt warm.

_I am thou, thou art I…_

_Thou hast acquired a new vow._

_It shall become the wings of rebellion_

_that breaketh thy chains of captivity._

_With the birth of the Fool Persona,_

_I have obtained the winds of blessing that_

_shall lead to freedom and new power…_

‘That was completely different from before,’ Akira thought as time resumed around him, but he couldn’t continue down the train of thought as Igor’s chuckling began once again.

“I must admit that I forced that upon you slightly, but it is prudent that you gain the ability to speak and perhaps reach common ground with your enemy. It will prove most beneficial to you in the near future.”

Akira couldn’t process everything that just happened, nor did he have the time as his vision began blurring.

“This conversation is over! Now get lost, Inmate!” Caroline’s voice, despite her yelling, was distant as Akira blacked out completely.

“Ngh…” Akira let out a loud yawn as his eyes opened slowly. Due to the warmer air around him along with the softer bed underneath him, Akira figured that he was back in the real world before his eyes could fully adjust. He expected his body to ache and to feel the normal exhaustion he was used to as he swung his legs off the bed, but his head was clear and he felt refreshed. 

Due to the unusual amount of energy he had, Akira threw on his clothes and finished preparing for another day of hell in record time compared to the previous mornings. However, Akira found it entirely unsettling, his face stuck in a frown as he slipped on his slick black shoes. He wasn’t used to not only waking up feeling actually refreshed, but also the feeling of excitement he had. Akira couldn’t place it to anything in particular; he absolutely despised Shujin Academy and all the people in it, so why was he feeling this way?

“Sumire…” Akira’s mouth moved on its own as he made his way towards the staircase before stopping. Now that he said the name, it was obvious why he was feeling this way. But to be excited about simply having a friend… 

Akira shook his head and looked backwards, remembering that Morgana had been sleeping at the foot of his bed. However, the spot where the cat had been was empty, but Akira simply turned back and headed down into the cafe. ‘He probably got up before me and headed out.’

If nothing else, Akira could be grateful for the uneventful start to his day. The crowd size, while large, was nothing he wasn’t already used to at this point, and his headphones were able to block out the noise almost entirely. Even at school, while the whispering and staring did feel like multiple weights being put on Akira’s shoulders, he was able to bear through it well enough when the bell rang, signifying that the Volleyball rally was starting.

Akira had zero intention of attending the rally, so as he stood up he threw on his headphones and made his way out of the classroom, turning towards the staircase leading upwards. He was only looking forward to speaking with Sumire again, but he realized something as he got to the third floor: he didn’t know which class she was in, and even if he did it would appear suspicious that the criminal transfer student was asking for the honors gymnastics student.

‘I’ll try the rooftop, hopefully she’s thinking the same way,’ Akira thought as he made his way further upstairs, looking backwards periodically to see if anyone was following him. Of course no one would follow someone so clearly hated by the entire school, but as Akira walked through the third floor consisting of first years he felt the stares turn from completely hostile to more fearful but also curious. First years were easily able to be influenced by their senpais and even the teachers, but they were still getting used to the school system, so it made sense that some of them would take some interest in Akira.

“Speaking of first years,” Akira muttered to himself as he pushed open the rooftop doors and immediately laid eyes on Sumire sitting in one of the metallic chairs from before. She was in the ugly, red gym uniform that all students had to wear today for the rally along with Akira, but that didn’t stop her bright red eyes from lighting up as Akira made contact with his own.

“Akira-senpai!” Sumire shot out of her seat and, to what felt like only three steps, crossed the entire roof and stopped right in front of Akira. “I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to hang out because I didn’t tell you my room number and then I thought that maybe you showing to my class might not have been a good idea in the first place and then I thought I should have given you my phone number and...” 

“Sumire,” Akira stated firmly as the redhead stopped and took a breath. “Calm down. I get that you’re excited, but could you backup a little bit?”

In what seemed like straight out of an anime, Sumire’s face lit up bright red as she jumped backwards, and Akira nearly smiled as he began moving towards the other seat opposite the one Sumire was sitting in.

“I’m sorry, Senpai… I was just… excited to see you again, but also wasn’t sure if you were going to show up,” Sumire’s voice grew closer behind Akira as he sat down with Sumire doing the same a few moments after.

“I was the one to suggest it, so it only makes sense for me to hold my word,” Akira said simply, shrugging as he looked at Sumire. Just like the day before, she seemed nervous as she fiddled with the sleeves to the gym uniform. “Sumire, is something on your mind?”

“Wh-what?” Sumire jumped in her seat as her head shot back up towards Akira, and Akira knew that something was up as her eyes were looking anywhere else but at him.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but you look nervous right now,” Akira stated simply as he leaned back into the metallic back of the chair.

“W-well…” Sumire’s right hand sped up as it moved up to her red hair and began twirling around strands with her index finger. “I was just hearing more rumors about you today… They all seem so awful, and none of them are true! I’m just worried about you is all, Senpai.”

Akira kept his face even as he stared at Sumire before taking in a deep breath. “I’ll be alright, Sumire. Either way, you’ve already been treated far worse by those sorry excuses for humans down there than me. How are you holding up?”

“It’s just back to people talking behind my back, although I’m afraid something like that will happen again if I go back into the courtyard…” Akira’s teeth unconsciously clamped down hard as he saw Sumire’s hands fall back to her lap and grip the red sweatpants loosely. He saw tears begin to well up in Sumire’s eyes, and felt his chest begin to heat up as his body tensed up. 

‘I swear I’ll make them p–’

“Senpai?” Akira took a deep breath as he heard Sumire’s voice pierce through his thoughts; he wasn’t sure how many times she had done that or would have to do that as he forced his body to loosen up and looked back up at Sumire. 

“Here, let’s exchange our text ID’s. Text me whenever you have lunch or are leaving school and I’ll walk with you.”

“Really?!” Sumire leaned towards Akira, her eyes widened in shock but also seemed brighter to Akira.

“Yeah, people are wary around me, so if they see us together they won’t dare lay a finger on you.” Akira leaned back in his seat as his mouth formed into a half-grin. “I’ll make sure of that, trust me.”

“Oh, but won’t the rumors around you get worse if you’re seen with me?” Sumire’s face went from bright to downtrodden in mere moments as it lowered towards the ground, but it stopped as Akira let out a string of low chuckles.

“I doubt they can get much worse for me. And besides, you should be concerned about yourself hanging out with a known criminal,” Akira chuckled, but his face stayed blank as he stared up into the cloudy sky. This was the first time since his arrest and charge of assault that he was able to joke about it, but it didn’t help or hurt in any way. His situation was just what it was at this point, and he had to deal with that.

“But you’re not a criminal, Akira-senpai!” Sumire’s sudden burst caused Akira to shift his face back down to her level and he raised his eyebrows; she looked entirely serious, so Akira straightened himself as she continued. “I don’t care about my rumors becoming worse because I know that you didn’t do anything wrong!”

Akira couldn’t help but chuckle slightly and shake his head. “It still amazes me that you’re so quick to believe that.”

“You’ve shown me no reason to believe otherwise, and you told me yours–” As Sumire was speaking, Akira brought his right hand up to stop her, to which she complied.

“You don’t have to repeat yourself, Sumire. I already know your reasoning, it’s just that… it's strange to have someone actually believe me for once. It almost feels like a dream.” Akira leaned forward, pressing his forearms into his thighs as he looked towards the ground. “Sorry about that, didn’t mean to bring down the mood.”

“N-no, it’s alright!” Sumire exclaimed as Akira straightened himself, and he couldn’t stop as a small frown barged its way onto his face as he saw Sumire’s cheeks were slightly pink. “So that means… I’m the first person to believe you?”

“Yeah, why?” Akira was becoming more confused as Sumire began to fidget again in her seat, only this time her nervousness seemed different to Akira, but he couldn’t place a reason as to why. He shook his head free of the feeling before looking back at Sumire, who was also looking at him almost expectantly. “If you’re wondering, you’re my first friend I’ve made here… actually my… only friend.”

Akira was half-expecting the voice to flare up in his mind again, but there was nothing but silence as he stared at the ground. He wasn’t sure why he was telling her any of this, but he felt something deep within himself that he could share some of his life with Sumire.

“Only friend…” Sumire’s voice sounded wispy as Akira raised his head, and even her gaze seemed far off, and Akira couldn’t stop himself from making the connection to himself when he got lost in thought.

“Oh right, I wanted to discuss what Morgana offered us yesterday,” Akira mentioned as his mind wandered towards the events of yesterday yet again.

“About stealing Kamoshida’s Treasure?” Sumire tilted her head while scrunching her face in thought. “I’m honestly against it. He’s a bad man for sure, but I don’t feel comfortable taking things into my own hands.”

“And then there’s the thing about potentially messing things up, right?” Akira asked as he crossed his arms and legs while leaning back. Sumire nodded and readjusted herself in her seat.

“R-right. No matter how many bad things someone has done, I would never want to kill anyone.”

“So we’re not going to do it after all, huh?” Akira muttered to himself, but Sumire perked up and blinked slowly at him. “Oh, I just wanted your input for my own decision. I can’t stand shitty people like him, but I need you if I want to stay alive in the Metaverse, so if you don’t want to do it then I won’t go in.”

Sumire’s face flushed a slight pink again as Akira stared at her, which only made him confused but he pushed his confusion aside as he got to his feet and checked his phone. “The rally is about done, which means we should get back to our homerooms soon. Here, let’s share contact info right now so, if you want to, we can meet up after school.”

“A-alright…” Akira was sent only further into confusion as Sumire shakily got to her feet and drew out her phone; her cheeks were becoming a darker shade of pink, nearing red, as she moved towards Akira. “Oh, um, Senpai?” 

“What’s up?” Akira asked as they exchanged chat ID’s.

“I actually have gymnastics practice after school today, so I won’t be able to meet up with you… I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine, just let me know when you want to hang out and I’ll be there. Don’t have much else to do.”

With that, Akira slipped his phone back into his pocket with Sumire doing the same, and he led her back to the third floor. The staring and rumors were near instant as they reached the third floor, but Akira elected to ignore it as he followed Sumire to her classroom. They were nothing but “Is that the transfer and demon student together?” and “Ugh, why the hell would he go for someone like her? Not like I would want him, but still.”

As he waved goodbye to Sumire, the sadness on her face was clear to Akira as he walked away, but there wasn’t anything he could do further as he made his way back to his own classroom.

* * *

‘God, did she have to go on and on like that?’ Akira’s mind felt numb as he entered into Leblanc; the last minutes of the day at Shujin always felt the longest, but today was especially bad as Kawakami droned on about “Students who didn’t attend the rally should be ashamed of themselves” and “We should all support Kamoshida and his team”. It was never about the Volleyball team first; always about Kamoshida with the actual team coming second. For the brief moments Akira was walking through the halls during the rally, he saw people all bandaged up in places that didn’t seem natural to be injured, which only further convinced Akira that Kamoshida was true scum.

“You seem to be pissed off.” Akira sighed as he set his bag down on the railing and turned towards the high pitched voice, seeing Morgana sitting in the middle of the room. “Well, more than usual I mean.”

“Tell me again why I let you stay here…” Akira groaned as he shuffled towards the desk with half of his books in hand; due to the rally cutting through half of the day, he only had half of the work. “We’re probably not even going to do it...”

“Still on about the setback?” 

“Sumire is still, and I’m not going in without h- Get off the bed, cat!” Akira pulled out the frankly uncomfortable wooden stool when Morgana jumped up onto the bed behind him, and he spun around and shot an icy glare at the cat.

“Mreow?!” 

With a thud, Akira heard Morgana jump onto the floor while he opened his Math book. However, he wasn’t in the right mindset to work as he stared blankly at his textbook. Akira still didn’t have any reservations about at least attempting to steal Kamoshida’s Treasure, but the fact that Sumire was so hesitant about the possibility of killing the man was rubbing off on Akira as he tapped his pencil nervously against the table. 

“How would we even screw it up, Morgana?” Akira suddenly asked as he pushed himself away from the desk, unable to concentrate on his schoolwork as he made eye contact with the black cat, who tilted his head to the side as he sat on the ground.

“Where’s this coming from?”

“Just tell me,” Akira responded curtly before turning back to his work, but his pencil was still as he awaited his answer.

“Well, removing his Treasure would only remove the distorted desires of Kamoshida; if we only do that, then we would avoid causing any real damage to the real Kamoshida. However, Shadows are the true self, the side of humans that they don’t want to see. Kamoshida’s Shadow and himself are connected, so if his Shadow were to be destroyed, that would have a dramatic effect on Kamoshida himself.”

“Like the mental shutdown we were talking about yesterday?”

As Akira turned his head, he saw Morgana nod his head and he felt a sudden chill spread throughout his body. When he awakened to Arsene, he was prepared to do just that if Sakamoto didn’t stop him. 

_Aren’t you pissed?_

_Don’t you want to get back at him?_

“Shut up…” Akira grunted. His hands gripped tightly against his pounding head as his elbows dug into the wooden desk.

_You’re all alone…_

_Why do you care what happens to him?_

_Run wild!_

“I said shut up!” Akira slammed his hands onto the table, rattling his pencil and open books sitting atop it. He barely felt the dull pain shooting throughout his arms as he shakily stood above the table.

“Akira?”

The small pitter of Morgana’s footsteps approached from behind Akira, and Akira’s head flared up in pain. “I’m going to bed…” Akira said through gritted teeth as he turned around and passed by Morgana, not bothering to look down at the cat.

“Are you okay?”

“Just don’t mess with anything, cat…” Akira grunted as he collapsed on his bed, his head pounding and his school clothes still on his body, and he fell into a restless slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much slower paced than the last chapter, but trust me when I say that this story will pick up a lot in the upcoming chapters. Thank you all for the kind support left on the previous chapters, and if you have any questions, feedback, or just want to leave something nice, please feel free to leave a comment! I'll see you all in chapter 6!


	6. Call to Action

“Dammit, why’d I forget to charge my phone?” 

Akira was trudging through the early crowds of Tokyo as he made his way to his fourth day of highschool, and his mood was exceptionally worse than the previous mornings. Not only did he toss and turn for most of the night, getting next to no sleep, but he had forgotten to plug in his phone for the night, meaning his headphones were practically useless to him.

“And I still haven’t picked up that damn fertilizer… I don’t even know where I can find some…” Akira grumbled while pushing his way off his second train. The day was particularly gorgeous with the sun’s rays not being bright but not too harsh, which only made Akira more irritated as he turned down the alleyway that led directly to Shujin. It wasn’t as if he hated the sun, but that it made everyone around him seem more cheerful and talkative, and since he didn’t have his headphones as a barrier against the white noise, Akira found a pounding headache creeping up on him.

‘Is this really how today is going to go?’

_Do you finally understand?_

_Happiness will never be a part of your life again._

_You are destined to live a life of mise–_

“Just shut up,” Akira uttered emotionlessly as he stepped out onto the main street and reintegrated into the crowd of students walking into school. 

“Hey, back up a little bit!”

“Why?”

“Dude, it's that transfer student!”

“Oh shit! Thanks man!”  
“I heard he’s going out with that demon honors student now as well, so it’s a really bad idea to go near him.”

While the two morons behind Akira thought they were whispering quietly enough, he fully heard their entire conversation as he made his way through the entrance. He was fully used to being feared by those around him, with that fact being somewhat comforting, but the last statement bothered Akira as he made his way towards the second floor.

‘Shit really does spread like wildfire around here. It’s probably even worse for Sumire now.’

The fact that Akira’s mind stayed on Sumire as classes began would have freaked him out just a few days ago, but he leaned into it as the first class of the day began. His mind wasn’t focusing on anything concrete; Sumire was simply on his mind as Akira went into the routine task of tapping his pencil against the desk. That is until Akira’s mind wandered towards the encounter with Igor and the wardens in the Velvet Room.

‘What did Igor say? That our bond was stronger than usual but could easily break?’ Akira’s glazed over eyes closed slowly as he stared outside the window, but he made sure to reopen them before the teacher could take notice. ‘It was something like that. And what was with that strange voice? Faith and… what was it? The Fool? Just what the hell are they?’

It was somewhat shocking to Akira as the teacher didn’t pay him any mind as he shook his head slightly, but he kept his attention directed at the window. ‘And then he mentioned something about talking with and potentially reaching common ground with the enemy… Did he mean Shadows? But we aren’t even going back into the Metaverse, not at this rate.’

Akira was abruptly forced from his thoughts as the people around him began moving and exiting the classroom, which only meant that it was lunchtime. “Whatever, I’ll have time to think over that shit later…” Akira mumbled as he stood up and made his way to the cafeteria. He ordered his now normal lunch of Jam Bread and Raw Punch and made his way towards the table at the back of the room. No one was around him as he sat down, staring at his measly lunch blankly. He didn’t feel hungry, or at least the desire to eat anything as his stomach rumbled, so Akira simply sat there with his mind devoid of thought.

“Akira-Senpai!”

Akira moved his head up slowly as the familiar feminine voice rang in his head; the only part of his day he could look forward t–

“What’s wrong, Sumire?” The redhead’s face was scrunched up, but it wasn’t in sadness or disappointment or anything like that. In fact, Akira wasn’t exactly sure what it was as Sumire set down her giant lunchbox rather abruptly in front of her before sitting down. It was like she was almost pouting as she looked at Akira, and he felt an intense unease build within his gut. “Sumire?”

“Why weren’t you answering me yesterday?” Sumire’s voice was nearly undetectable as a frown began taking shape on Akira’s face.

“Yesterday?”

“I texted you after my practice but you never responded…” Sumire’s gaze fell downwards as her voice became more distant, forcing Akira to lean forwards slightly to be able to hear. “I thought maybe you were busy at the moment so I texted you later, but still nothing… My mind immediately went into a dark place and I didn’t know what to do…”

At this point Akira had no idea what to do; Sumire was on the verge of tears in front of him and he was already in a bad mood, but Igor’s warning flushed out all other thoughts as Akira leaned forward even more, now getting Sumire’s attention.

“I’m sorry Sumire, I just went to bed early yesterday without checking my phone,” Akira said in his softest possible voice, continuing on as Sumire looked to interject. “And I forgot to charge my phone, so I didn't see your texts. Sorry again.”

After reaching down into places unknown for that apology, Akira wasn’t mentally prepared for the speedy response from Sumire who nearly bonked her head against his as she leaned onto the table, her face brightening up dramatically from the downcast, dark face just prior. “I forgive you, Akira-senpai! Now let’s eat!”  
“U-uh… Yeah,” Akira managed to stutter out as he brought his piece of bread up to his mouth, taking a fairly small bite while Sumire looked eagerly at the mounds of food in front of her with her chopsticks already in her right hand. 

“What’s wrong Senpai?” Sumire asked, clearly noticing the newly formed wrinkles on Akira’s face before Akira could wipe them off.

“O-oh, well… It’s just that I’m surprised at how fast you cheered up, Sumire,” Akira eventually found his words, but his confusion deepened as a dull pink lit up on Sumire’s cheeks as she looked downward.

“I only needed your apology, Senpai. That’s more than enough for me,” Sumire said, looking back towards Akira with a large smile. Before Akira could express his now immense confusion, Sumire’s face scrunched up as her eyes locked onto Akira’s half-eaten bread. “Senpai, that’s not enough food!”

“It’s enough to get by,” Akira said before taking another bite of the somewhat stale bread and putting on a neutral face as he slouched back into the plastic seat. He hoped that would be the end of the conversation, but Sumire only leaned further towards him, now practically laying on top of the lunch table.

“You need to take care of yourself, Senpai!” Sumire’s voice was even louder than before as her face inched closer towards Akira’s. Akira couldn’t hold eye contact any longer as he felt small pricks shooting in the back of his head, and he unconsciously winced as he felt Sumire’s gaze become more intense.

“Sumire, could you back up a little?” Akira hated how his voice was fainter, but he made sure to keep his expression steady as he motioned Sumire backwards. However, the redhead stayed where she was as she shook her head.

“Not until you promise to take better care of yourself!” 

Each word felt like it was impaling straight through Akira’s mind; he thought he was used to Sumire’s strange outbursts at this point, but this was much more intense than usual. 

“Hey, that’s the transfer student with the demon girl!”

“Why is she so close to him? Is she trying to kill him for us?”

“Well, even if she is we should steer clear of that table.”

All around Akira, he felt gazes directed at him and, for the briefest of moments, it felt like hot magma was flowing through his veins.

“Sumire, back up.”

Ever since becoming official friends, Akira had never dared to raise his voice when speaking to Sumire, but the current situation was not only drawing a lot of unwanted attention from the other students but was also making Akira progressively more irritated. 

Thankfully, Sumire seemed to understand Akira’s raised voice along with the quickly forming scowl on his face as she launched herself back into her seat. “I-I’m sorry, Senpai…”

Akira massaged the back of his neck as the throbbing pain in his head died down and let out a sigh.

“It’s alright. I just need my personal spa– Sumire?” As Akira looked back up, his eyes widened. Tears were flowing down Sumire’s face as she slowly picked up a piece of chicken from her lunchbox.

“I-I’m s-so sorry, S-Senpai… I-I understand i-if you h-hate me n-now…” 

Before Akira could process what Sumire said, the lid of her lunchbox flew back into place as she stood up and ran out of the cafeteria.

“Sumire wait!” Akira’s body moved on its own as he found himself speeding out of the cafeteria with his gut twisting and churning with anxiety as he raced after his only friend. He saw Sumire run towards the Courtyard and without a second to think, Akira shoved his way through a small crowd of students walking towards the cafeteria. He heard the curses made by the students as he did so, but they didn’t register as his focus was solely on catching up with Sumire.

“Sumire, please stop!” Akira shouted as he burst through the doors and out into the Courtyard, and his blood simultaneously chilled and boiled at the sight in front of him. In the middle of the Courtyard stood Sumire looking upward at the man Akira least wanted to see today.

“What’s wrong, Yoshizawa-san? Is that transfer student bothering you?” Akira’s body seized up as he attempted to take a step forward, and Kamoshida’s eyes locked onto his frozen body with a malicious grin under it. “It’s alright, I’ll protect you from him.”

_Don’t you hate him?_

_Wouldn’t it be better to get rid of this scum?_

_All it takes is for you to_ **_let go._ **

Akira wasn’t in control as his right leg moved forward followed by his left, moving his body slowly towards Kamoshida and Sumire. 

_You don’t need people to betray you._

_Isn’t this proof enough?_

_Proof that you can’t trust anyone?_ _  
_ Despite it being the middle of the day, Akira’s skin felt ice cold, but inside his chest was burning hot. He saw Kamoshida’s hand snake towards Sumire’s waist, and the burning spread nearly instantly throughout Akira’s body. 

Sumire wasn’t resisting.

She didn’t care.

He’ll just let it all out…

“I-I’m sorry, but… I have to go!” Sumire nearly shouted as she backed away from Kamoshida. She was painfully aware of the location of both of the man’s hands as they neared her waist, and not before long her entire body was shaking.

“C’mon, it’s alright. You must be so scared of the transfer student, but I’ll make sure he stays away from you,” Kamoshida said gently, but Sumire wasn’t a fool as she saw the evil grin on the man’s face. Then it hit her; he was talking about Akira. 

‘This is just like in the Palace. I hesitated and put Akira in an awful position…’

“So? What do you say about that?” Kamoshida was towering over her again, and it was then that Sumire heard heavy footsteps behind her. She lept backwards as Kamoshida’s hands snaked forward yet again, but found herself hitting against a solid body.

“Akira-senpai?” Sumire uttered as she looked up. Her face lifted for a brief second before falling; Akira’s eyes were darkened, but his face was entirely emotionless. She didn’t feel any warmth come from his face nor any loneliness, sadness, or even anger; there was nothing in his eyes. Sumire backed away from Akira as he took a step towards Kamoshida, almost like he wasn’t aware of her presence.

“You see? He’s so frightening that you backed away from him. Why don’t you let me take care of this criminal scum for you?”

Sumire’s eyes widened as she saw spit fly out from Kamoshida’s mouth and hit Akira’s foot, and felt her mind clear suddenly, spinning towards Kamoshida with a snarl on her face. “He’s not a criminal nor is he scum.”

“W-what?”

“Akira-senpai has been the only kind person here and we’ve even become friends in our short time together. I will not stand by as you mock him!” Sumire felt hot tears flow down her face once again, but this time it was out of anger. She didn’t feel any fear as she looked Kamoshida in the eyes; for the person who gave her a chance, to be her only friend, to save her from the darkness, she would do anything.

“W-what are you talking about, Yoshizawa-san? Aren’t you afraid of this guy?” Kamoshida asked calmly as he stood straight up, but, without thinking, Sumire walked over towards Akira, who was standing perfectly still just shy of Kamoshida, and grabbed hold of his right arm.

“I’m sorry, sir, but we need to finish our lunch before our next class starts. Have a nice day.” Akira’s arm felt extremely tense as Sumire practically dragged Akira from the Courtyard and back into Shujin, leaving Kamoshida and the few bystanders completely speechless as they left. Akira didn’t struggle at all as she led him back into the cafeteria, not even saying anything, which only led to Sumire’s mind to wander.

‘Does he hate me? Did I freak out too much earlier? I hope he doesn’t hate me now…’

“Sumire?” 

Akira’s voice made Sumire jolt as they neared their table and she was putting down her lunchbox. She spun around to see Akira looking down at her, and she felt a wave of relief wash over her; his eyes had returned to normal, but his face was scrunched into a confused frown. However, her relief faded as she realized she was still holding onto his arm tightly and, remembering his reaction earlier, she pulled back her hand and began lowering her head. “I-I’m sor–”

“I’m sorry, Sumire.”

Sumire’s eyes widened as she looked back up towards Akira. “I didn’t mean to yell at you like that earlier, and I’m sure that encounter with Kamoshida freaked you out. Thank you for pulling me away from him.” To Sumire’s complete shock, Akira bowed his head slightly towards her. She didn’t know what to do; she wanted to apologize for how she acted towards Akira, but he was apologizing to her? 

“I-it’s alright, Senpai,” was the best Sumire could get out, and Akira raised his head back towards her.

“I can't stand people like that,” Akira said as he walked towards his half-eaten piece of bread before making eye contact with Sumire. “I'm sorry if I startled you earlier.”

“It’s okay, Senpai!” Sumire waved her hands downward at Akira and tried to flash a smile, but the sudden apologies and eye contact with Akira was making her cheeks heat up again, and she forced her gaze towards the table. “I should be the one apologizing anyway. I put you in an uncomfortable position…”

“You’re fine, Sumire.” Akira let out a chuckle, which drew Sumire’s gaze back onto him as he had a half-grin, but it quickly turned back into something more inquisitive as he titled his head slightly to the side. “If I may, what was that about? You’ve never been that forward before.”

“O-oh… um…” Sumire suddenly felt her chest tighten up, and she began to play with her red locks as she looked at anything besides Akira. She wasn’t sure exactly why she was acting that way, and felt uncomfortable thinking it through. However, Akira’s sharp gaze was cutting through her unease and resolve, and her eyes began to crawl back towards Akira.

Fortunately for her, the bell rang, and the cafeteria came to life as everyone began standing up and walking back towards their classrooms with a large variance of willingness in their strides. However, as much as she was glad to get off the uncomfortable topic, Sumire wanted to spend more time with Akira and felt a pang of sadness as her black haired senpai stood up.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to talk some other time. I’m assuming you have practice after school?” Akira asked as they walked towards the exit of the cafeteria, and all Sumire could bring herself to do was nod. “When do you get a free day? I’m assuming you have free days, correct?”

“Y-yeah. Starting next week, I’ll be getting Sunday and Wednesday off,” Sumire responded, feeling the full weight of the stares around her. 

“Hey, those are them, right?”

“Yeah, the two people you don’t want to be around.”

“I don’t know man, the honors student is pretty cute.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? She's cursed, man!”

“Are those two going out or something?”

“Sumire, what’s wrong?”

Sumire jolted and dashed forward slightly at Akira’s voice as they walked onto the second floor before looking back. Akira only blinked slowly at her before letting out a small sigh. 

“Do you want me to walk you to your room, or will you be fine?”

Sumire couldn’t prevent the heat rushing back to her face, and as her mind was racing for what to do, she burst into a sprint and up the stairs without even saying goodbye to Akira. 

‘What am I doing? Why do I feel so stirred up whenever I’m around Akira-senpai?’ Sumire thought as she rushed back into her classroom and sat down in her seat. ‘He’s probably confused right now. I should apologize to him after practice today.’

* * *

“Nicely done, Sumire!”

With a final breath, Sumire released her end pose. It had been a while since she had performed near her usual level, and she had forgotten the rush of performing well. A well built woman approached Sumire wearing a black tank top and leggings as Sumire bowed towards her. “Thank you, Coach Hiraguchi!” 

“I haven’t seen this level from you in quite some time. Has something changed in your daily life?”

Sumire straightened herself and immediately her mind went towards Akira, and her stomach felt funny as she tried to prevent her face from heating up. However, she knew she failed as her coach raised an eyebrow and a smirk played onto her face.

“I haven’t even suggested anything, Sumire, and you’re already blushing? Is there a boy you like?”

“Wh-what?” Sumire gasped, and Hiraguchi broke into laughter while Sumire tried to calm her now fast beating heart.

“I’m only joking, Sumire. I am glad that you’re doing well now.” Hiraguchi’s grin turned into a warm smile as Sumire took one final deep breath to steady herself. “Today’s practice is over, so you can go home now.”

“Um, I actually met someone recently, and he’s been helping me…” Sumire said quietly as Hiraguchi began to turn around, but the woman stopped and faced Sumire again with her smile still in place. “It’s been… rough ever since Kasumi…” Sumire stopped as her chest tightened up and she shut her eyes as she felt tears threaten to fall again. 

“It’s alright, Sumire. I think I get the gist of the situation anyways,” Coach Hiraguchi said, and Sumire reopened her eyes and gave a small nod towards the woman. “Well, it's good that you’ve found someone to rely on, but make sure you don’t over rely on them, alright?”

“Over rely?” Sumire’s head jolted back up towards Hiraguchi, but the woman’s face didn’t betray what she meant. 

“Never mind, I’m glad you’re doing better, Sumire.” Hiraguchi’s smile suddenly brightened even more. “In fact, I think you should take tomorrow off and hang out with this lucky young man. If you’ve improved so much this fast, it may be a good idea to take it easy with gymnastics for a while. To refind yourself, Sumire.”

“Coach?!”

This never happened. Coach was actually giving Sumire time off? However, there wasn’t any sign of deception on her face, not like Hiraguchi would do something like that. “Alright, today’s practice is over, so feel free to head home.”

Despite her confusion, Sumire nodded and left the gym she and Hiraguchi used to practice. Her body was sore and she was tired, two things Sumire was accustomed to feeling, but she also felt accomplished. Like for the first time in what felt like ages she was doing alright, not just in gymnastics, but for life in general. 

The way back home was peaceful as most of rush hour was already done, so Sumire was able to find a seat on the last train before having to walk the rest of the way home. ‘I should text Senpai and apologize for earlier.’

Sumire reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, finding Akira’s contact info immediately as she had already favorited him in her contact list. 

_Hey Senpai, I’m sorry for running away so abruptly after lunch today! I wasn’t feeling very good, and I know that isn’t a very good reason, so I hope you don’t hate me for that._

Sumire was painfully aware of the nervousness taking place in her stomach as she waited for Akira’s response. ‘Maybe he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore. Maybe he was lying to me about last night and he did see my te–’

_I’m not sure how much I have to say this, but it’s alright Sumire. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to._

_Also, I will never hate you, so stop saying that, alright? Like you told me before, we’re friends now._

A smile tugged at Sumire’s lips as she stared at Akira’s response. She couldn’t help the happiness inside her heart as typed out her response; Akira really did care about her.

_Thank you, Senpai! I’ll see you tomorrow!_

Putting away her phone, Sumire stood up and waited by the door as the train began to slow down. Her body felt lighter, like all the weight, all the guilt she had been carrying had just been lifted off her shoulders. 

Lifted off by Akira.

* * *

The next day, April 15th, Akira felt good. The night before he had finally picked up the plant fertilizer he kept telling himself he would get, and already the plant was looking greener. On top of the botanist in the teen feeling accomplished, Akira simply felt refreshed. No summoning to the Velvet Room, no arguing with the cat, nothing. He even slept decently last night after the brief but much needed text conversation with Sumire. Knowing that she was alright, that there wasn’t anything wrong, set his mind at ease, and sleep followed soon after.

“Today’s Friday? That means she has a day off coming up in two days…” Akira mumbled as he stepped into Shujin, his music, which he missed dearly, blasting in his ears to drown out the white noise around him. He still felt the faint fire from the day prior as he passed by the Courtyard, but Akira shook off the encroaching feeling as he made his way to his classroom. If he could make it through today without losing his temper, that would be for the best.

“This division of power provides checks and balances, which ensures no one branch becomes unstoppable.”

Akira could barely hold his attention for the lecture Ushimaru was giving. He already learned this back in middle school due to his natural curiosity of government, so hearing everything being regurgitated was simply a waste of his time. 

‘Oh well, it’s not like I’m doing anything else right now,’ Akira thought as he stared blankly at the chalkboard. It took a piece of chalk to the head yesterday to get him to realize that dozing off in Ushimaru’s class wasn’t the best of ideas, so Akira figured this was the best way to not pay attention. ‘I wonder how Sumire is doing. That last text she sent made it seem like she was doing alright, but her mood shifts so quickly it’s kind of hard to keep up with her.’ As Akira let his mind wander, he made sure to copy what was on the chalkboard as Ushimaru looked over at him, stopping as the man turned his attention back to the class at large. ‘Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to be patient with her. She’s the only one that’s worth anything in this damn school, so be it.’ 

“Hey… What’s that!?”

Akira moved his attention towards the front of the classroom where a plain looking student was standing and staring out the window next to the door.

“Enough! This is a classroom!” Ushimaru shouted at the student, but everyone’s attention was now directed outside the windows.

“Wait… she’s going to jump!”

Akira froze. ‘She? Wait, please don’t tell me…” His entire body began shaking. There was no way they were talking about Sumire. Absolutely zero chance… right?

However, Akira couldn’t stop himself as more and more students began saying things like “She’s going to jump!” and “Someone stop her!” and he rushed out of the back door of the classroom.

“Kurusu! Everyone stay in here!” Akira heard Ushimaru shout as he ripped open the door and nearly flung himself at the window as his eyes scanned the surroundings. The fear and dread he felt dissipated as he laid eyes on a girl swaying on the school rooftop; she clearly wasn’t Sumire. However, his brief moment of relief was cut short as he was pushed to the side. Where he was just standing was the blonde he saw with Kamoshida a few days ago, Takamaki, he recalled, staring out the window when the entire floor erupted with gasps and Takamaki’s hand flew to her face. Akira barely saw as the black haired girl plummeted to the ground, and time felt as if it slowed for the entire school as nobody dared move. 

“Shiho!”

This brief moment passed as quickly as it came as Takamaki rushed past Akira, but Akira didn’t care as he yanked his phone from his pocket and called Sumire.

“Sumire? Are you okay?” Akira asked urgently as soon as he heard Sumire pick up.

“Y-yeah, I-I’m o-okay…” Sumire’s voice was distant and she sounded on the verge of tears.

“Where are you? I’m heading your way right now.”

“I-in my classroom… 1-B…”

Akira didn’t hear Sumire finish saying ‘B’ as he threw his phone back into his pocket and raced up the stairs, skipping steps as he shoved his way through the ever increasing crowd.

“Sumire!” He shouted over the roar of the first years, locking onto the red hair of the one person he cared about. Akira nearly threw a few first years as he forced his way towards Sumire, finally reaching her in front of her classroom. “Are you okay? Did you see what happened?”

“Y-yeah, I-I did…” Sumire muttered, and Akira saw the tears welling up quickly in her eyes. 

“Here, follow me. We need to get somewhere quiet.” Akira turned around, but immediately realized that Sumire was stuck in place only by the look of fear and desperation on her face. Without another thought, Akira took her right hand and gently led her through the crowd of people trying to get downstairs, his left hand doing all the pushing as he attempted to comfort Sumire with his right. As he brushed his thumb over the back of her hand, Akira felt Sumire’s hand tighten around his, so much that he felt his bones dig into each other, but Akira didn’t let go. He couldn’t let go, not while Sumire was in this state.

“No one’s in here,” Akira stated as he walked into an empty first year room, 1-D. Sumire’s hand was shaking violently even as Akira held it tightly, and he made sure to sit Sumire down before closing the class door. “You’re safe in here, Sumire. It’ll be alright.”

Akira had expected Sumire to be shaken by the suicide attempt, but as he turned he felt an icy hand grip around his heart. Her body was shaking violently as tears rushed from her widened eyes. “I-I’m so-sorry, Se-Senpai…”

Akira’s body acted on its own as he swiftly moved towards Sumire and sat at the desk right next to her. “Don’t apologize. It’ll be alright,” Akira responded, reaching into his bag for a handkerchief he kept with him. However, as he presented it to Sumire, the girl suddenly collapsed forward. “Sumire!”

Akira just barely caught Sumire before she hit the ground, his hands flying towards her shoulders as he helped situate her on the ground. As he sat down right in front of her, Sumire’s teary eyes met his own and a cry of pain erupted from her throat. Her chest convulsed as Sumire’s upper body began leaning forward, her unfettered sobs echoing throughout the room as Akira let her head hit softly against his chest.

“Kasumi… why? Please… don’t leave me…” 

Akira’s arms began moving upwards, but stopped just shy of wrapping around Sumire’s body. “Sumire, it’s alright. It’ll all be alright,” Akira cooed as he instead took Sumire’s hand in his own, pushing his own growing sense of dread and unease aside as Sumire cried out even louder.

“Senpai… don’t leave me… not you too!”

“Sumire, I’m right here!” Akira squeezed Sumire’s hand in a futile attempt to reassure her, but the redhead was in another place, trapped by her own grief. He couldn’t do anything as he still heard the hoard of people outside moving, but at the same time he knew they couldn’t stay in here. 

‘Because it's this shithole, they’ll force us to finish the day, so the students in this class could return at any moment. We can’t stay here, but where else can we go?’ 

Akira looked down as he felt Sumire clutch at his blazer with her free hand, but her eyes were closed. ‘Looks like she’s asleep for now. Maybe I should try the nurse’s office?’

Without a second thought, Akira carefully placed his arms under Sumire’s body as he shifted himself to a squat position. He heard teachers outside the room yelling at the students, and he knew that he didn’t have much time left. If he was caught with an unconscious Sumire, Akira doubted anyone would believe what they were actually doing. 

He allowed the brief flare of anger to rush through his body before Akira carefully straightened with Sumire in his arms. ‘I just need to fight through the crowd.’ Akira’s eyes were focused as he opened the class door with his right leg and was immediately bombarded with the roar of the first years. Eyes shot over towards him and Sumire as he pushed through the crowd, but Akira kept his focus in front of him.

“Move!” Akira forced his voice to a roar as he stood at the bridge between the main building and the practice building, and instantly the people blocking the path moved out of the way for him. All their eyes were filled with a mix of fear and confusion as Akira rushed past them while keeping his grip on Sumire tight. Her face was scrunched in pain and distress even in her unconscious state, which only made Akira more uneasy as he shouldered past some athletic-looking students blocking the way to the nurse’s office.

“Dude, what the hell’s up with him?”

“Isn’t he carrying that cursed girl?”

“What, are the two worst students going out now?”

Their voices reached Akira, but his mind was set only on helping Sumire, so nothing the students said stuck as he raced down the hall. 

“Excuse me, but can I lay down my friend in here?!” Akira shouted as he nearly kicked down the door into the nurse’s office, but no one was in the dark room. ‘She’s probably down with the girl until paramedics get here,’ Akira thought as he gently laid Sumire on the white nurse’s bed. Her face was still distorted as tears continued to roll down her cheeks, but her cries had softened into small whimpers as Akira unconsciously took hold of her left hand as he sat down beside the bed.

“What the hell happened? Why’d that girl jump?” Akira muttered, and he couldn’t prevent himself from thinking the situation through. Was it anything related to the school, or was this personal matters? Why today to jump? 

Was Kamoshida involved somehow?

“I’ve got nothing to go on, but if her jumping involved the school somehow, it was definitely connected with Kamoshida. But that’s the thing: I don’t know that for sure…” Akira trailed off, the only remaining sound in the dimly lit office being Sumire’s near silent whimpering. 

“Senpai… Kasumi… no…”

Akira felt useless; could he really do nothing about this? Could he really do nothing but wait for Sumire?

‘It’s just what she did for me,’ Akira thought, and allowed a brief smile onto his face as he looked down at Sumire. ‘It’s only been four days...'

“Kamoshida’s gonna pay!”

“Sakamoto, wait a second!” 

Akira perked up in his seat, Sumire’s hand still in his. ‘Sakamoto? And who's the other guy and why does he sound familiar?’ Akira shook his head and began to lean back in his seat, but his eyes widened suddenly. ‘Wait, did he say Kamoshida?'

Akira looked down at Sumire, whose eyes were still shut tight and her face was pale. He didn’t want to leave her, but his curiosity peaked, and he felt the need to know what was going on. 

But why? Why did he care? 

‘It’s to protect Sumire.'

“Sakamoto, please wait!”

“Where’s he going?” Akira found himself out of the nurse’s office and walking up beside a familiar dark blue haired boy, who yelped as he flipped towards Akira. 

“T-to Kamoshida’s ro– Wait, aren’t you that transfer student?” The boy shouted in response, his nerves clear on his face. However, Akira was already walking after the blonde. His mind felt like it was clouding with every step; he could hear Sakamoto yelling, but couldn’t make out the words as he stopped in front of the door.

“...hell did you do to her, asshole?!” 

Sakamoto was in Kamoshida’s face as Akira entered the room, with the eggplant-headed man sitting back in his chair with a smug grin on his face.

“I’m not sure what you mean, Sakamoto,” Kamoshida responded, and his eyes wandered past the blonde and locked with Akira’s, and the teen felt the burning sensation relight within his chest. “Oh, and of course you’re here with him.”

The blonde flipped around and his eyes widened as he looked at Akira, but the teen didn’t break eye contact with the smug asshole sitting at the end of the room. 

“And Mishima? Jesus, how many of you trash are going to funnel in?”

“The hell was that?!” Sakamoto growled as he turned back towards Kamoshida as Akira heard the footsteps that followed him stop. “You asshat, what did you do to Shiho?!”

“I simply took what was rightfully mine.” Kamoshida threw his hands into the air as he spun back towards his computer. “Don’t bother telling anyone. No one would take the word of scum like you over mine.”

Akira’s face darkened as he stared straight through Kamoshida; so he did do something horrid to that girl. Just the thought, the possibility, that something like that could happen to Sumire brought Akira to the point of retching, but he held strong as his acid reflux died down.

“Scum? What… what do you mean by that, Mr. Kamoshida?” The boy behind Akira, Mishima, he remembered, asked tentatively. Kamoshida burst out in laughter as he spun back towards the three, his shit-eating grin even wider and only fueling the near scorching feeling in Akira’s chest.

“What do you think I mean? You’re a talentless player who serves no purpose other than being my little errand monkey. Stop giving me that look like you’re somehow a victim; you’re the one who leaked his criminal record, remember?”

“Only because you told me to!” Mishima cried out, and Akira barely heard him fall to his knees as his ears rang loudly and the world began to spin. 

_He’s the reason for your suffering…_

_Aren’t you pissed?_

_Don’t you want revenge?_

“Everyone here will be expelled along with that Yoshizawa girl. I’ll just mention all of you at the next board meeting ”

“What?!” Akira roared as his body approached Kamoshida and the man stood and towered over him. However, the rage he was feeling made no room for doubt or hesitation as Akira stared daggers at Kamoshida.

“Did I stutter? You’ll all be expelled including Yoshizawa.” The scowl that Kamoshida put up for a second fell back into the smug grin as Akira’s body shook violently. “You want to know the reason, right? Well, it’s only ‘cause she resisted me yesterday. Oh, and because she seems the only one close to you, trash.”

Akira’s heart slowed along with the world around him, the air feeling colder while his chest was now engulfed in what felt like molten rock. The room darkened around him as Akira’s hands tightened into fists.

‘Calm... down…’ Akira forced through his mind, attempting to cut through the thick darkness obstructing his thought process.

_Hate him…_

_Get revenge…_

_Release it all!_ _  
_ ‘Stop it!’ 

Akira whipped around and, with his face darkened, pushed his way past Mishima on the ground and exited the office.

“Senpai?”

Akira wasn’t sure how he got to the Nurse’s Office so fast, but he was standing by the bed Sumire was previously laying on as she stared up at him in a sitting position. He blinked twice in an attempt to wipe off his scowl, but his cold skin and burning chest was a constant reminder of his and Sumire’s fate.

“I-I’m sorry, Sumire…” Akira couldn’t hold it in any longer as he fell to his knees, pressing his head into the nurse’s bed.

“Akira-senpai?!” Sumire gasped from above Akira, but Akira kept his head downwards. He couldn’t face her; he was a damn failure.

“Goddammit! I’m sorry Sumire, but… we’re getting expelled… and it’s cause of Kamoshida...” Akira cursed faintly into the bed. He wanted to cry, to cry tears of anger and hatred and sadness, but nothing would come. “I’ve… ruined not only my life… again… but also the only person I give a damn about!”

“Akira-senpai! Calm down!” 

“I’m so, so sorry, Sumire… I don’t expect you to forgive me, so…”

“We can fight back, Senpai!”

Akira’s eyes widened as he felt a hand fall onto his shoulder, and he slowly raised his head towards Sumire. Despite everything he just told her and what happened, she was smiling, smiling as bright as the sun as it cut through the darkness within his mind. “The Palace… So you’re okay with the risks?” Akira nearly shouted, and Sumire’s smile widened as he straightened himself. 

“I believe you Senpai, and to protect you, I’m okay with it.” Suddenly, Sumire’s face fell downwards. “I’m… assuming you found out something between that girl and Kamoshida?”

The molten core that was quickly becoming Akira’s heart chilled, and his own face turned deadly serious. “He’s an awful man, Sumire. That’s all you need to know.”

“A-alright…”

“Hey, do you want to talk about earlier?” Akira asked, surprising himself as he grabbed the hand still resting on his shoulder. “You seemed to take what happened to that girl more personally than I expected, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”  
“I…” Sumire began, and Akira immediately saw tears begin to form within her eyes. “I don’t feel like I can do it… I’m sorry, Senpai…”

“It’s alright Sumire,” Akira said, brushing his thumb in a reassuring manner, or at least he hoped. However, he suddenly realized what he was doing as he looked up at Sumire’s face and noticed, along with the fact that her tears were drying, that her cheeks were turning bright pink. “Sorry, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Sumire simply nodded at Akira, like she was unable to respond, and the bell rang with the PR system blaring to life.

“ALL STUDENTS, PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR HOMEROOMS FOR THE DAY! WE UNDERSTAND WHAT HAS OCCURED AND ARE CONTACTING YOUR GUARDIANS AS WE SPEAK, BUT WE MUST FINISH THE DAY BEFORE LETTING YOU ALL RETURN HOME”

“I knew it… shitheads, all of them,” Akira muttered to himself and, before he could offer Sumire his hand to get up, Sumire stood up and walked towards the door.

“Where will we meet, Senpai?”

“Rooftop should be fine. I’ll have to go back to my place of residence to pick up Morgana, so you’ll have to wait a little for m- Wait, what about your gymnastics practice?”

Sumire’s smile returned as she turned back towards Akira. “My coach gave me today off, so we’ll be fine!”

“Well, that was nice of her…” Akira attempted a chuckle, but his mood was far from even being neutral so it sounded more like a sigh than anything. “I think it’s time for us to head out, Sumire. I’ll see you after school, and please steer clear of Kamoshida.” With an enthusiastic nod from Sumire, the two exited the Nurse’s Office and made their ways back to their classrooms. 

The rest of the day passed like a blur; Akira simply couldn’t focus on anything but going into the palace. He could feel each movement he would make, slicing through vulnerable Shadows, flipping over the guards, and firing his pistol at rows of enemies. Thankfully, the teachers seemed to understand at the very least that none of the students were in the mood, so no one was called on for the rest of the day.

‘Back to Leblanc and then coming back here…’ Akira thought as he made his way towards the entrance of the school and exited. ‘Hopefully Sojiro doesn’t get suspicious; that would cause some issues for us…’

“Akira!”

Akira stopped mid stride as he approached the alleyway; he could’ve sworn he just heard Morgana’s voi–

“Down here!”

Akira’s head shot to his right and he lept into action as he scooped up Morgana and ran into the alleyway.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Akira whisper-shouted at the cat.

“What? I was just waiting for you here to see if you changed your mind!” Morgana countered.

“You moron, what will other people think of a talking cat?”

“Are… are you serious?” Morgana asked tentatively, and Akira’s incredulousness faded as his mind worked, and he felt like a moron. Morgana’s face shifted into the closest thing to a grin a cat could have.

“So only Sumire and I can understand you?”

“Bingo! Man, you had me worried for a second there!” Morgana laughed much to Akira’s irritation, but this was perfect timing.

“Come with me, we’re going to the rooftop,” Akira said as he grabbed Morgana’s scruff, sticking him into his bag without waiting for a response. “We’re going in today. Kamoshida is going to pay.”

“Senpai?! I thought you were going home first to pick up Morgana?” Sumire shot to her feet as the roof door closed behind Akira.

“Well, luckily he came to me, so we can go without further delay,” Akira responded as he placed his bag on a table. “Also kinda surprised this place isn’t on higher alert after today. I just walked up here like normal.”

“Yeah… It really is disturbing how little it seems the school cares about us,” Sumire said, her face dark as she looked at the ground.

“Wait, wait, wait, what’s going on? And what’s with the sudden decision to head in?” Morgana chirped as he escaped from Akira’s bag, jumping onto the table.

“A girl today tried to attempt suicide and I’m positive Kamoshida was involved. To answer your second question, our expulsion is on the line on May 2nd, so we’re backed into a corner.”

“Well, that sounds good enough to me! Let’s go!” Morgana dived back into Akira’s bag.

“Alright,” Akira announced as he picked up his bag, feeling a slight sense of purpose as he turned towards Sumire. She had a determined look in her eyes along with a slight amount of fear, but Akira trusted her to put the fear aside inside the palace. “You ready?”

“Yes!”

The three made their way confidently down onto the street running along with Shujin, ignoring the nervous glances from the other students and the tidal wave of whispers around them.

“Do you two really have to deal with all that everyday?” Morgana asked Akira and Sumire as they walked into the alleyway.

“Yeah, but I’m used to it at this point.” Akira and Sumire made eye contact as they spoke in unison, and Sumire burst into laughter as Akira’s face broke into a half-grin.

“What they say doesn’t matter. As long as I have Akira-senpai, I’ll be fine,” Sumire stated confidently, and Akira simply nodded with her as he pulled out his phone.

“Alright, let’s go!”

The world around the three began to shift as the sky darkened, and Akira shivered slightly as the air chilled. 

“Urgh, my head…”

Akira darted out of the alley instantly; that wasn’t any of the three that said that. As his knife materialized, Akira pointed it directly at the feminine voice that spoke. “What the hell are you two doing in here?!”  
Akira blinked slowly; both Takamaki and Sakamoto had their hands up and their faces were strewn with fear, and Akira slowly lowered his knife.

“After what happened with Kamoshida, I kinda trailed you and Takamaki followed me around halfway through,” Sakamoto explained as Sumire and Morgana walked out of the alleyway.

“What the hell is that? And what’s with this castle?!” Takamaki screamed, her eyes darting from Morgana to the castle before settling on Akira. “And… Kurusu-kun? Why are you and… that girl dressed that way?”

“That thing?!” Akira heard Morgana shout as he closed his eyes; a headache was forming right behind his eyes. 

“Forget this ever happened, and stay out of our way,” Akira uttered before ushering Takamaki and Sakamoto towards the alley. He was fairly confident in entering the Metaverse at this point, but exiting remained a mystery. There seemed to be a point where you would exit the Palace, but Akira and Sakamoto entered Kamoshida’s palace from a block away on the first day of school.

“What are you doing? If you’re doing something with Kamoshida, let me in on i–!” Takamaki began, but Akira with the help of Sumire, pushed both her and Sakamoto out of the Metaverse.

“Jesus, that was exhausting,” Akira sighed as he pinched his nose, but the feeling of frustration passed as he faced Morgana and Sumire once again. “Are you guys ready? Still, I guess…”

“Yup, let’s go!” Morgana shouted along with Sumire nodding, and the three made their way up the stone steps and towards the castle entrance.

“Wait a second, Joker!”

Akira looked down at Morgana furiously waving his tiny arms in confusion. “Huh?”

“Joker; do you really think yelling out our real names is a good idea? There’s no telling what the effect would be, also it would be extremely lame if we used our real names as Thieves.”

“Joker? Is that my codename?” Akira tilted his head to the side, unable to avoid noticing the sparkle in Sumire’s eyes as she looked at him. 

“It suits you perfectly!” 

“Alright, I’ll be Joker then.” Joker rubbed the back of his neck before turning towards Sumire.

“What’s mine going to be?” She asked with almost child-like excitement.

“It’s gotta be Violet,” Joker answered almost immediately, and he half-grinned as Sumire’s face lit up slightly.

“Ohh, the meaning of her name in English! I like it, Joker!” Morgana exclaimed as Violet nodded.

“Well, I think that’s it, Mona.” Joker turned towards the palace and began moving forward.

“Mona?” Morgana shouted at him in confusion, with Violet running up besides Joker.

“It’s a shortened version of your name and it’s easy to call out. Come on, let’s get this Treasure.”

The tiny pittering of Mona’s feet indicated that the cat was racing towards the two teens as they jumped up into the air vent, landing in the storage room. The dusty air immediately hit Joker’s lungs as his breathing became slightly more difficult, but he shook his head as he motioned for both Violet and Mona to be quiet. He could hear Kamoshida’s Shadow from the giant foyer, and he wanted to avoid a confrontation with him at all cost. Not because he didn’t think they could handle him, but his emotional state was still being kept in check as his right eye twitched slightly.

“Shit!” Joker whispered as he slowly opened the door opposite the storage room due to the door leading into the foyer being shut and presumably locked since he had entered into it twice from there already. However, on the other side of the wooden door was a Shadow standing in the middle of the small room.

“Joker, I wanna try something out on this guy. If possible, target any known weaknesses, alright?” Mona whispered over towards Joker as he peered into the room, and his knife flashed into existence as he nodded. He noted that Violet’s rapier also materialized along with Mona’s scimitar, and a grin flashed onto his face as he dashed from his hiding spot. The Shadow barely had time to react as Joker slammed the butt end of his knife into its neck before lodging the blade into its side.

“W-who’re you?” The Shadow shouted as it convulsed, more black blood pooling underneath it as it erupted and revealing one of those pixies from before.

“A weakling, sweet! Joker, knock it down!” Mona shouted gleefully, and Joker didn’t have time to question as electricity began to gather in and around the pixie’s hands. 

“Arsene, Eiha!” Joker commanded, ripping off his mask as the demonic persona manifested beside him. Immediately, the table directly underneath Arsene began to shake as dark energy coalesced into its hand and, as it spun around the small arc of electricity from the pixie, Arsene sent the ball building within its hands straight towards the Shadow. A high pitched wail came from the creature as it fell to the ground, and Joker grinned as he gripped his knife.

“This is our chance, Joker, for an All Out Attack!” 

“All Out Attack?” Joker questioned, feeling more secure as the pixie tried and failed to regain its flight.

“Basically a finisher for when all of our enemies are knocked down. We can’t do it when they’re standing because our defenses are down while we’re attacking, so one counter attack and we’d be finished.”

“Got it. Violet, are you ready?” Joker looked over at Violet, who smiled and nodded, before returning his attention on the pixie. “Say goodnight. Let’s g–”

“Please wait! Spare my life!” To Joker’s surprise, the pixie shouted out as it laid on the ground, and he saw… tears?

“Why should I? What do I get in return?” Joker responded, almost naturally, and the pixie winced.

“I… uh… don’t have anything on me…”

“Then you die.”

As Joker and the other two gripped their weapons and prepared to attack with full force, the pixie suddenly began to glow.

“Wait please! Don’t kill m- Huh? Wait, I’m not one of Kamoshida’s minions…”

“What’s going on?” Mona uttered as the three slid to a stop to stare at the pixie.

“That’s right! I’m from the Sea of Souls and my name is Pixie! And now, I’ll live on within your soul!” As the Pixie finished, the blue light intensified until it fully surrounded it, and the light flew straight towards Joker’s face. Without a sound, the light latched onto Joker, and he felt his mask reform and Arsene disappear. However, he also felt something else, something new at the forefront of his mind that felt similar to Arsene.

“Mona, what did Joker-senpai just do?!” Violet asked, and Joker looked from side to side to see both of them looking at him with their eyes wide open.

“I-I don’t know!” Mona shouted, and before Joker could shut him up, he heard the clinking of armor he knew would approach them.

“Stop, intruders!” A single Shadow ran into the room, convulsing with every step before the same black liquid splattered all over the room, revealing what appeared to be a black horse with bright green horns and red eyes.

“Come, Pixie!” Without thinking, Joker reached back for his mask and, focusing inward, felt the second presence within him grow stronger, overtaking Arsene as Pixie formed in front of him from the blue flames.

“What?! A second persona?!” Mona shouted, and a string of chuckles came from Joker’s lips.

“Zio, now!” With a twirl of his knife, Akira pointed directly at the beast in front of him as Pixie brought her tiny hands together. A small amount of electricity began to gather as the Shadow charged towards Pixie and Joker, but both the user and persona simply moved to the right. Joker saw Mona’s and Violet’s mouths wide open as a large streak of electricity came from Pixie’s hands, cutting deep into the Shadow and slamming it into the opposite wall.

“You two, let’s go!” Joker commanded and, after a brief moment of pause, Mona and Violet nodded as Joker’s mask reformed and they all sprinted towards the vulnerable Shadow.

“It’s too late for apologies!” Mona shouted as the three jumped into the air, landing briefly on the walls of the room, before dashing towards and around the Shadow, slicing through its skin with every strike and drawing even more blood as its pained cries echoed around the tiny room. 

Joker noticed the Shadow convulsing, just like the others when about to burst, and landed onto the ground with the others landing behind him. His knife disappeared as a cocky grin tugged at Joker’s lips, and as he readjusted his gloves, he heard the spurt of blood that signified the Shadow’s demise.

“Holy… I never expected you to be able to use multiple personas!” Mona bounced towards Joker, Violet not far behind him with her red eyes sparkling with admiration.

“Don’t flatter me, and let’s just go.” Joker suddenly felt serious as his grin vanished; he didn’t want to be caught off guard any more. He moved across the room and out of the open door, hearing Violet and Mona move behind him as he peered into the next room.

It was a simple hallway with another one gated off and a door at the opposite side, so Joker motioned towards the other two to follow quietly. If they were going to do this, they were doing it his way. Joker didn’t want to fight more than needed; although the rush he felt was amazing, he didn’t want to put Violet in danger anymore than absolutely necessary.

“Joker, look over here!” Mona’s hushed tones broke Joker from his thoughts and towards another door right in front of them. “This is what I call Safe Rooms! No Shadows will find us in here, so we can rest for a little b–”

“That’s great, but we don’t need it right now. We just started,” Joker responded, turning on his heels towards the far door with Violet at his side.

“Joker-senpai, you don’t have to be mean to him,” Violet said, but Joker kept a straight face as he heard Mona’s tiny footsteps behind them.

“He can take it,” was Joker’s response as he creaked the next door open. 

‘This room is a lot bigger, and there’s… four Shadows as far as I can see,’ Joker assessed the room through the cracked open door, Violet and Mona waiting behind him.

“There’s four Shadows, so let’s take this sl–”

As Joker turned towards the other two, a blast of fire destroyed the door instantly, sending all three flying down the hallway.

“Hah, I thought I heard you rodents! Prepare to meet your end!” The sound of Shadows approached as Joker struggled to his feet; he felt that he wasn’t that injured from the attack minus a few large splinters of wood stuck in his right arm. All four Shadows funneled into the hallway, and Joker heard more clinking of boots come from behind. He only looked back for a second as three more Shadows rushed towards him, but what else he saw made him stop.

“Ugh…”

Violet was laying on the ground, blood trickling down her head with a noticeable burn mark on her right cheek. She was still conscious as she shifted, but Joker’s entire body burned from within as the hallway shook. 

“Shit!”

_Everything you hold dear in life is perishable…_

_So why hold anything dear?_

_The only thing that will not end is_ **_power._ **

A searing pain shot through Joker’s head, forcing both hands upwards as he stumbled into the wall to his right. It felt not only his mind but his entire body was being ripped apart from the inside, like something was attempting to get out.

**_Although the flesh may fade one day, the power it once held will always remain._ **

“A-argh…” Joker opened his mouth, but his voice barely escaped as his head faced the ground and sweat began dripping from his face. 

**_This power could be yours at any moment._ **

The flames within Joker’s body suddenly felt cool as Joker’s skin burned even more. Arsene and Pixie faded from his mind, being replaced with his raw, negative emotions.

**_Just let your anger, your rage, your hatred, take hold of your essence._ **

Joker’s cries echoed down the hall as the Shadows stopped around him, his breathing becoming shorter and erratic. “N-no… Fuck...”

**_It appears you still have reservations, so I shall grant you a taste of the power held within you._ **

All the pain, the burning, stopped at once as Joker stumbled into the center of the hallway. The raw, unbridled rage, sadness, and hatred swirling in his mind shot down into his torso and spread all the way to his fingertips. Joker felt nothing as he caught his breath, letting out one final sigh as his eyes slowly opened. 

The entire hallway was filled with harsh winds, pushing everything and everyone away from Joker as his eyes fully widened. Any sign of his struggle was gone as he slowly straightened, his body unfurling until he stood tall, the Shadows and Mona beginning to find their footing.

“J-Joker?”

Joker outstretched his hands towards the ground, a wicked grin forming on his face. He was going to kill every single one of the Shadows in front of him. Darkness began to encircle him, working from the bottom up until his vision was entirely obstructed. However, Joker’s eyes remained widened as he felt the darkness begin to stick onto him, covering only his torso and arms, and Joker breathed out heavily as the darkness turned cold and metallic.

His right hand began to curl back up into a fist, and Joker felt a large handle form within the darkness. He didn’t need a weapon, but it would prove useful to decimate everything in his path. A slew of dark chuckles escaped Joker’s mouth as, with no effort, brought the jetblack greatsword across his body and swiped forward, cutting through the remaining darkness. In front of him, one of the Shadows was on the ground, its torso disconnected from the rest of its body as its blood spilled onto the ground. As it disappeared into blood and dust, Joker was sent into more sinister chuckles before he hefted up the spiked demonic greatsword to be chest level, pointing it directly at the group of Shadows in front of him.

**“Who’s next?”**


	7. Cutting through the Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated Chapter as I've received some feedback around Sumire, only changed the back half of it.

“Ngh…”

Violet stirred on the ground, sluggishly moving her arms underneath her. Her ears were ringing and her eyes felt like they had sandbags weighing them down, but she clearly remembered being in a hallway in Kamoshida’s palace before blacking out. ‘What happened?’ 

“J-Joker?”

Though the high pitched voice was extremely faint, Violet was easily able to identify it as Mona’s. ‘Wait, Senpai? What’s going on?’ Violet pushed against the red carpet she was laying face-down on, but all her strength had was completely gone as her arms gave out and her body barely fell at all back to the ground. As it did, her loose hair began whipping wildly behind her as violent winds threatened to pick Violet up and send her flying. Violet heard the screeching of metal along with several loud thuds, and the winds stopped as quickly as they started. 

The ringing began to die down as Violet slowly creaked her eyes open, and the noise she heard first sent chills down her spine. It was Joker chuckling, but the laughter was dark and hollow. ‘What… why is he laughing like that?’ Violet tried again to push herself up, feeling her stomach twist and turn as the sound of metal was approaching her, but as she pushed herself up more than last attempt, her body collapsed again. 

**“Who’s next?”**

The castle’s temperature wasn’t cold by any means and Violet was relatively warm, but the… deadness in Joker’s voice sent chills all over her body. This wasn’t the boy she knew, the boy that helped her, that was her only friend. Something was happening to him, something terrible, and Violet wanted to do something, but her body wouldn’t move.

However, as she fought just to stand, she was able to move her head up, and she couldn’t hold back her gasp. There was Joker, standing in the middle of the hallway, but the pit in Violet’s stomach twisted and grew as she laid eyes on the bloodthirsty smile on Joker’s face along with his dead eyed glare. Violet’s unease exploded within her chest as her eyes moved downwards, stopping at the pure black armor Joker was now wearing. Spikes protruded from the shoulders of the scaly armor, stopping at Joker’s waist. As Violet felt a slight amount of relief and confusion due to the strange armor stopping there, her eyes locked onto the huge greatsword outstretched towards one group of Shadows. Just like the armor, spikes protruded from the hilt of the sword, with its dual edges looking razor sharp, and Violet noticed the claw-like gauntlets donning Joker’s hands. She also noticed that Joker was holding the giant blade not only one handed, but also with ease as he brought it to his side, no signs of struggle as he did so.

**“Silence? Well, if that’s your answer…”**

Violet’s body shook with every word Joker spoke; it didn’t even sound like his voice, being much deeper and filled with extreme malice. However, Violet couldn’t do anything but watch as Joker bent his knees slightly and, in what felt like an instance, he was in the middle of the group of Shadows. Violet barely saw what happened as two Shadows fell to the ground, dead in an instant with their bodies cleaved in two. 

“The hell?” One of the Shadows behind Violet shouted as all five of them rushed towards Joker.

**“Fools.”**

Violet’s eyes widened as Joker spun on his heels, greatsword outstretched, and she watched in mixed awe and terror as a fountain's worth of black blood splurged from the three Shadows in front.

**“Is this the best you’ve got? Pathetic,”** Joker said, a near growl underlying his voice. 

‘Senpai, what are you doing?’ Violet asked internally, too weak to even speak. She couldn’t… no, didn’t want to understand the sudden cruelty Joker was showing; it went against everything she knew of him.

“What are you fools doing? Transform and kill this cretin!” Violet’s eyes shifted behind Joker, a familiar golden sheen meeting her eyes as another Shadow marched through the destroyed doorway.

“Y-yessir!” All of the Shadows shouted in unison, and Violet felt sick as they all convulsed and crumpled into themselves at once. One or two transforming was fine, but the awful sounds of screeching metal mixed with the gurgling of the six Shadows was too much for Violet to handle. However, she couldn’t look away as two Pixies, three scantily clad women in all black with demonic wings and tails, and an armor wearing soldier wielding a lance atop a red horse rose from the miniature black lake surrounding Joker. 

‘That’s too many of them! Please, just run!’ Sumire wanted to scream out, but her mouth wouldn’t even budge as the six Shadows surrounded Joker raising his greatsword up to his right soldier, holding it horizontally as he faced towards the demonic women and soldier. Violet tried one last time to call out as the Pixies began to charge electricity with their hands, but she couldn’t as, with a near-deafening crack, they released the energy directed solely towards Joker. The lightning arcs sped straight for his back, and exploded on impact with the back of Joker's spiked armor, obstructing Violet’s view as dust was kicked up from the destroyed wall surrounding the destroyed door. 

“Hah! What do you think of that, you son of a bi–” The horse riding soldier shouted, pointing his spear towards the dust cloud, but stopped as it all suddenly blew away, leaving only Joker standing perfectly still and seemingly unharmed. However, as Violet shaky vision passed over him, she saw blood trickling down his back and pooling underneath his feet. ‘He isn’t acting injured though… Why?’

**“Did you truly believe that would kill me?”**

With amazing speed and precision, Violet watched Joker turn around and push his greatsword forward with both hands, skewering and entirely destroying one of the Pixie’s heads as its body fell to the ground. Violet had to shut her eyes as the attack also sent out a wave of pressure, sending the other two Pixies all the way towards and into the wall adjacent to the Safe Room as the force that sent them flying embedded them into the wall.

**“Do you understand now? None of you have even a fraction of a chance.”** Joker took a step forward after spinning around, letting his greatsword fall to his side as he approached the four remaining Shadows. One of the demon women let out a terrified screech as fire built up within their hands and was sent hurtling towards Joker, but with a simple swing of his blade, he destroyed the fireball entirely. 

Another step forward, two more fireballs sent his way, and two more lackadaisical swings of Joker's blade. Despite the fact that Joker was fine, Violet’s vision blurred as tears welled up within her mask. She despised how Joker was acting and desperately wanted to look away, to cover her ears, but her damn body wouldn’t move!

‘Please… just stop…’ She pleaded internally, silently weeping as Joker's left hand shot towards one of the demonic women and, with one final screech, crushed her throat, letting her now headless body fall to the ground, all while letting out dark laughter.

**“What did you call me? A cretin?”** Joker mockingly asked as he slammed his foot into and through the second demonic woman’s gut, ripping her corpse off his bloody leg as the blood dissipated nearly instantly.  **“An apt description… for you.”** As Joker turned towards the last remaining demonic woman, she began to fly through the destroyed door, leaving the armored soldier alone as Joker dark chuckling intensified, and he slammed his left fist into the Shadow’s chest, sending a wave of blood from the newly opened wound as the Shadow stumbled backwards.  **“How amusing, you have no one left. After I dispatch you, tearing your ‘king’ to shreds will be great entertainment.”**

Violet’s eyes somehow widened even more; was Joker seriously going to kill Kamoshida? Nothing before made any sense to her, but this shook Violet to her core. Would Joker ever do something that cruel?

‘No, this isn’t Akira-senpai! I refuse to believe it!’ Violet’s mind screamed as Joker slowly moved towards the last remaining Shadow, his blade outstretched and his own blood leaving a trail behind him. ‘Please… just go back to normal!’

**“Have fun in he–** A-ah! **”**

As Violet tried to yell out to Joker, she stopped and stared in horror as Joker’s body snapped completely straight,and with an echoed clang the demonic greatsword fell to the ground harmlessly.

“Wh-what…” Violet barely heard come from the teen, watching in pained silence as his covered hands reached up and clutched his head. 

**“It is disappointing, but it appears you cannot handle this power yet. You continue to deny yourself this right deep within yourself, and thus your body rejects me eagerly without realizing it is only causing itself pain. When you are ready, I shall grant you the power you seek so dearly, to destroy those that have wronged you in past, present, and future. I will be waiting eagerly for that day.”**

No words could describe the scene playing out in front of Violet; one moment ago Joker was calm and collected, ready to tear apart the terrified Shadow in front of him, but now he was on his knees, hands falling from his head as wisps of darkness rose up from his armored torso. 

“H-huh? You're wide open!”

Without realizing how or when it happened, Violet found herself standing above Joker, her rapier in hand as her eyes were locked with the Shadow.“You’re fighting me now,” Violet said, not wasting any time to even question how she pushed herself up, let alone dash in front of Joker. Only one thought raced through her mind: ‘I have to save Joker-senpai.’

“Girl, do you believe you can take me by yourself?” The Shadow roared, flipping its lance as it brought it overhead before going straight for Violet.

“Dia!”

Suddenly, Violet felt most of her wounds fade and her stamina surge as a green light poured into her body. The voice that called it out belonged to Mona, but Violet didn’t have time to process it fully as she parried the Shadow’s lance, redirecting it so that it also passed by Joker. 

“Let’s dance, Cendrillon!”

Ripping off her mask, Violet stabbed forward three times with her rapier, each finding its mark in the Shadow’s chest as its black blood began slowly dripping out. As the Shadow stumbled backwards, the horse tried to kick at Violet, but she gracefully dodged to the left, her red hair flowing behind her as Cendrillon sped towards the injured Shadow with two balls of light in its hands. Both the soldier and horse of the Shadow let out cries of pain as Cendrillon slammed the balls of light into their chests, and, with a flash of blinding light, both of them disappeared entirely, not even leaving behind blood or dust.

“Nice work, Violet!” Mona’s voice cut through Violet’s concentration, and she turned to her left to see the cat limping towards her.

“Mona, you’re still hurt!” Violet shouted, kneeling down to face the cat. “Why haven’t you healed yourself yet?”

“O-oh… I guess I should have done that, huh?” Mona rubbed the back of his head, but before he could call his persona, Violet straightened back up.

“Cendrillon, heal him.” 

The same green light poured into Mona from above, and Violet’s head pounded for a few moments as a wave of mental exhaustion hit her but she forced a smile down towards Mona, whose burns were mostly healed along with the wounds created by the fairly large chunks of wood now laying on the ground. 

“A-Ah!”

Joker’s sudden cry of pain jolted Violet straight up before she flipped around, and her hand shot in front of her mouth. “Senpai!” 

Joker was lying on the ground back in his black waist and tail coat, with a pool of blood slowly growing bigger underneath him. Even worse, all over his upper body were fairly large stab wounds with blood quickly flowing out.

“Zorro, dia!” Mona shouted as Violet got to her knees and tentatively touched Joker’s back. As her hand made contact, she felt an immense amount of dread; his shoulder blades were broken, and as she looked over his body, Violet could clearly see that his right arm was broken as well as it was bent in an extremely unnatural manner. Luckily, the green light descended upon and filled Joker’s body and Violet let out a relieved sigh as the wounds over his back began to heal.

“Wait, what?!” Violet shouted, her eyes wide with disbelief; the wounds just stopped healing even as the green light continued to pour into Joker. His right arm still was bent in an uncomfortable position, and his shoulder blades were still broken, but Violet couldn’t feel the large cracks in them from before. Most of the bleeding had stopped, but some was still drizzling down Joker’s back. “Why? Why isn’t he healing?”   
“I don’t know!” Mona’s concentration broke along with the stream of healing energy directed at Joker, and Violet returned her own attention to him.

“I’ll try. D–”

**“Don’t bother.”**

Despite falling unconscious, Joker’s lips moved, and the strange voice that Violet heard during Joker’s battle returned.

“Who are you? What’s happening to Senpai?!” Violet’s voice cracked as she flung herself forward, leaning forward towards Joker’s prone body.

**“You will know my name one day, when this boy is good and ready.**

“What does that mean?!” Mona shouted, anger breaking his voice as he took a step towards Joker’s body. However, no voice came from the unconscious teen as Violet and Mona stared intently. Joker’s face was distorted in clear pain, with every breath he took in being accompanied with small whimpers of pain.

**“As for the second question, girl, I believe you already heard me state it earlier.”**

“What? Wait, what do you mean by tha–”

**_You continue to deny yourself this right deep within yourself, and thus your body rejects me eagerly without realizing it is only causing itself pain._ **

‘He… he was hurting himself?’ Violet leaned back on her calves, a feeling of helplessness falling over her. What use is she that she can’t even help this one person, instead having to sit and watch him suffer? Before she knew it, tears threatened her once again. “I-I’m sorry, S-Senpai…”

“I don’t know what’s happening, but we can’t stay here. I should have healed him enough, but I’m sure more Shadows are on their way towards us right now!” Violet felt Mona’s soft paw land on her shoulder as his equally soft voice echoed around the hallway. “He’s in no condition to fight, and apparently my healing can’t do much more than this. Hopefully exiting the Metaverse will help some, but I expect he’ll have to take a few days before we can come back.”

“R-right… Let me at least do this…” Violet managed to get out, holding back her tears as she gingerly wrapped Joker’s left arm around her shoulders. ‘Thank god I’m stronger in here,’ Violet thought as she easily carried Joker through the hallway with her arm wrapped around his waist. In the far reaches of her mind, Violet acknowledged the fact that Joker was more muscular than he showed, feeling his abs through his black outfit, but she shook her head before a blush could even threaten her cheeks.

‘I need to be strong! I can’t get distracted by that!’ Violet internally admonished herself as she followed Mona through the still intact door at the end of the hall and the small room beyond that into the hall connecting their escape with the large Foyer.

“What the hell are you guys doing?!”

“Let us go! And what’s with the suits of armor and fake swords?”

“They’re for real, Takamaki! Hey dammit, don’t squeeze that hard!”

Violet and Mona froze and looked at each other, their eyes filled with a mixture of recognition and fear. Those two voices belonged to the two people that somehow followed them into the Metaverse, but what were they doing here?

“Mona, they sound like they’re in trouble!” Violet whispered, but Mona was already running towards the door to the Foyer slowly creaked the door open. Joker in tow, Violet slowly moved up behind Mona and barely held in her gasp; both of the blonde teens were on their knees, two groups of three Shadows surrounding them with their blades outstretched towards them.

“What are they even doing in here?! Joker told them pretty clearly to forget about this!” Mona grumbled, shifting his scimitar from hand to hand as he and Violet continued watching the scene play out. 

“What should we do? There’s a lot of Shadows in there, and Joker-senpai can’t fight.” Violet looked from Mona to the Foyer, noticing that there were even more Shadows behind the six surrounding the blondes; Violet counted ten more, way more than just the two of them could handle.

“We can’t beat all of them, but maybe we can create enough of a distraction so those two can escape and then we can run for it. I would hate for such a pretty girl to die like this…” 

Violet looked downwards to see if Mona was being serious or not, but she didn’t detect any trace of irony on his face and shrugged, something she hoped Mona wouldn’t see. “I can’t leave Joker-senpai alone, and that last fight took a lot out of me,” Violet mentioned, gritting her teeth afterwards. Her focus was only on saving Joker so she didn’t hold back to defeat that Shadow, but now she was paying the price as she felt mentally drained. ‘Just shows how useless I am…’

“We need to move now!” Mona’s whisper-shout brought Violet from her self-loathing as she looked out the door and felt the pit return in her stomach as Kamoshida’s Shadow was walking towards the two blondes.

“Oh? So you returned here after all, trash.” Violet felt her blood chill and boil simultaneously as Kamoshida’s Shadow stopped in front of the blonde boy. “I see you also brought her along as well. There’s no way my men would confuse her for my princess.”

‘Princess? What is he talking about?’ Violet’s mind went into overdrive as Mona slowly creaked the door open until they could slip out. None of the guards noticed the three as they snaked along the wall, keeping their eyes locked onto the two blondes.

“Are you… talking about me?” The blonde girl asked hesitantly, but Kamoshida’s Shadow’s only response was to burst out in laughter.

“Ohhh… you’re soooo nauughty.” 

Violet’s eyes widened as they locked onto something that didn’t make any sense; an exact copy of the blonde girl was walking towards Kamoshida’s Shadow, only she was dressed in a very revealing bikini and cat ears.

“The hell?” Both of the blondes shouted at once, but the two golden Shadows standing in front of them inched their blades closer to their necks.

“Silence, fools. The punishment for unlawful entry is death, so be grateful that it will be swiftly dealt out,” the Shadow in front of the boy said just as the second blonde girl reached Kamoshida and, much to Violet’s disgust, wrapped her arms around him and circled her finger around his right pec.

“What… what is going on?” Violet whispered to Mona as they hid behind the left staircase, laying Joker right next to them as they peered out towards the center.

“It’ll take too long to explain, but realize that that’s not a Shadow,” Mona said quickly, a slingshot forming in his hands as he inched closer towards the edge of their cover.

“A slingshot?”

Mona looked back at Violet and grinned. “You should have a ranged weapon as well. Just as your rapier comes into existence when you subconsciously will it, so should your ranged weapon.” 

As Mona turned back towards the center of the room and began aiming his slingshot at the Shadows, Violet slowly closed her right hand and, just as Mona instructed would happen, she felt cool metal form within it as a short barreled rifle shimmered into existence. If she hadn’t been used to summoning her rapier along with her persona, Violet would have found it insane that she was actually holding a gun, but she simply moved behind Mona and looked towards the center of the room.

“Aim for the Shadows in the back; those guys are weaklings and will likely go down with a well aimed shot to the head,” Mona instructed, and Violet brought up her firearm without hesitation, training it on the middle Shadow in the front of the group behind the two blondes. “After firing, I’ll summon Zorro and try to blow away those Golden Shadows, but keep firing on any Shadows that transform. If everything goes to plan, I’ll run up to grab those two while you take Joker and run.”

“Got it.” Despite her voice sounding calm, Violet was anything but. Her right arm was shaking violently as she struggled to steady her breathing; could she really do this? There were so many Shadows, and Joker still couldn’t fight, so the chances of them escaping with both blondes was extremely slim.

“Ngh…”

Violet’s thoughts stopped as Joker’s pained groan reached her ears, and she didn’t have to look back to know how much pain he was in. ‘No, I have to be strong! To be strong for Senpai, to be able to help him like he’s helped me!’ 

With a deep breath, Violet was able to calm her body enough to stop most of her shaking, but she still felt her heart beating in her ears as her right arm shook. Violet grit her teeth as she strained the arm holding her rifle, barely holding it steady pointed at the Shadow in the front’s head.

“God dammit… I’m such an idiot…”

“Kamoshida, why are you doing this?”

More laughter came from Kamoshida’s Shadow as Violet saw him slowly approach the now pinned down blonde girl, and her teeth opened before clamping down on the inside of her cheek just to keep her focus. “I just do what I want around here. After all, it’s what I deserve for bringing this place so much glory!”

“What the hell is he on about?” Mona spat on the ground, disgust clear in his voice. 

“Nobody dares speak against me, and if they do… Well, they pay the consequences.” Violet saw Shadow Kamoshida lick his lips, and her right arm shook slightly, but Violet increased the pressure on her cheek, feeling and tasting blood within her mouth. “After I kill that ape, I’ll make sure to have fun with you. Just like… ah, what was her name? Shiho?”

The world stopped for Violet. ‘He isn’t talking about that, is he? Not to a student… there’s no way a teacher could do something like that!’ Violet’s mind raced, her grip on the rifle tightening as she nearly pulled the trigger. ‘There’s no way… Right?’

“Violet, stay focused! He’s a monster, yes, but don’t let him get to you!” Mona lightly tapped Violet’s leg, breaking her from her brief train of thought as he turned back towards the center of the Foyer. 

‘He’s right… Senpai needs me right now, so I can’t let my emotions get to me!’ Violet focused all of her energy into her right arm to keep it steady, pushing aside the horrid thoughts and barely keeping it at bay.

“You bastard!” The girl’s voice broke as she shrieked at Shadow Kamoshida and Violet saw the Shadow above her push her down into the ground, but the crisp image of Joker in her mind kept her focus solely on the Shadow.

“Violet, now!”

In an instant, six projectiles flew from Violet’s and Mona’s hiding spot, and six Shadows fell dead with holes ripped through their heads.

“What the hell?!” Shadow Kamoshida shouted, and just like the two had planned, the entire room delved into chaos. More than half the Shadows ran over towards their six dead companions while the rest looked wildly around the room. However, none of them looked over towards Violet and Mona as the cat jumped up and onto the railing above them.

“Zorro, Garu!”

The persona dressed in black formed above Mona as Violet saw green energy swirl around the Golden Shadow holding down the blonde boy, stopping just short of the teen as the Shadow began lifting into the air.

“Get out of here!” Mona commanded, and the blonde boy instantly scrambled away from the Golden Shadow as Violet trained her rifle on the group of Shadows splitting their attention between Mona and the blonde. 

Violet felt overwhelmed; she had just fired a gun and actually killed something. With this feeling crashing over her, Violet’s determination quickly shifted into desperation as her breathing quickened, just barely noticing four Shadows within the group beginning to transform. Four more bullets flew from her gun, but only two of the Shadows fell with holes in their heads, with the two others completely untouched. ‘How useless am I? I have one job, and I’m failing at that?’

Despite her self-loathing, Violet retrained her rifle on the two remaining Shadows that were rising from the black puddle beneath them and fired two more times, this time the bullets ripping through the newly formed Pixies’ chests. 

The slight relief Violet felt at finally finishing off the four Shadows was quickly quashed as she saw the Golden Shadow still above the blonde girl along with the green gusts of wind surrounding the normal Shadows trying to approach Mona. ‘I have to do this! Can I do it though? What if I fa- No! I can’t think like that!’

The two bullets hurtling towards the Golden Shadow were directed right at its head as Violet directed her rifle at it, but her chest tightened as they fell uselessly against the Shadow’s shield along with the fact that, as she tried to fire more bullets, her gun just made a clicking sound.

“What?!” Violet gasped, feeling an immense amount of dread as the Golden Shadow positioned his sword directly above the blonde’s head.

“You two again?! Hmph, whatever,” Shadow Kamoshida scoffed as Violet made eye contact with him before he turned back towards the blonde. “I wanted to take her into my room of love, but right here will do as well. Push her against the wall!”

“No!” 

Violet’s attention shot towards the boy to her right just as he jumped to his feet and tried to take a step forward, but two Shadow’s swords crossed the blonde girl’s neck as two other Shadows pinned her against the wall.

“Take another step and I’ll kill her on the spot,” Shadow Kamoshida said, his voice distorting mid sentence. 

“Shit… I couldn’t get to her in time…” Mona cursed as his scimitar replaced his slingshot with ten Shadows rushing towards the three Persona users. “Violet, can you still fight?”

“I… Y-yes!” Violet tried to shout, but her voice was cracking too much as her rifle disappeared and blade manifested within her left hand. Five Pixies burst from the Shadows along with five of those green horned beasts from earlier, and none of them gave Violet and Mona a chance to attack as an elemental flurry of attacks sped towards them. The pounding in Violet’s head made it so that she didn’t see one of the green horned Shadows rushing towards her as a large gash was made in her right arm, her blood trickling down it as she tried to take up a fighting stance. However, none of the beasts gave her a chance to attack back as blasts of green energy hurtled towards her while one Shadow continually charged at her with Violet just barely able to tumble around the torrent of attacks.

“Dammit… We can’t do anything against this many Shadows!” Violet heard Mona shout as she jumped into the air, spinning through two beast Shadows charging at her. As she dodged another round of charges from three of the beast Shadows, two green tornados shot towards her from above, making small but numerous cuts all over her body as she tried and failed to slide away. 

“I… why am I... so useless...” Violet panted as she forced herself to stay on her feet, feeling her blood trickling down her body as she gripped her rapier tightly. “No… I need to… stay strong… for Joker-senpai…”

The five beast Shadows circled Violet, nothing but rage in their eyes as they glared at the bleeding girl; there was no way for her to dodge all of them at once, especially in this state. ‘Think! What would Senpai do right n–?’

“Arsene!”

One moment, Violet was surrounded by five Shadows. The next, Arsene was floating in front of her with one of the beast Shadows bursting into blood and dust. “Wait… Senpai?!”

Violet spun towards where Joker was laying and gasped; he was standing with his left hand to his face, but Violet saw his legs shaking violently.

“What are you doing up?!” Violet shouted, not noticing two of the Shadows rushing towards her before they were right on her. However, neither of them made contact as a pool of blood began seeping into the cracks of the ground, and Violet saw Arsene hovering right in front of her with both of the Shadow’s bodies impaled on his razor sharp legs.

“Joker, watch out!” Violet spun back towards the black haired teen as Mona’s voice shouted out, and saw three arcs of electricity headed straight for Joker.

“Pixie! Block it!” Joker’s voice roared over the cramped battlefield, and Arsene disappeared from in front of Violet just as the arcs of electricity hit Joker. Violet’s eyes widened as she opened her mouth to scream, but the brief dust cloud surrounding him blew away as Joker’s own Pixie flew out, its tiny body wavering slightly but holding strong. “Dia!”

The small but constant bleeding from all over Violet’s body slowed as her skin magically began reforming over her wounds, with the large gash across her arm shrinking considerably. “Do it, Violet!” As Joker’s voice reached her, Violet spun around gracefully, slashing at the two remaining Shadows’ front legs as she avoided their green horns by a large margin. Black blood splattered onto the ground around her, but the Shadows continued to stand as they faced her once again. However, Violet felt revitalized as they charged at her own more time, grinning as she kicked off the ground.

With two precise jabs downwards, Violet landed in the middle of the two Shadows and released her rapier as both collapsed simultaneously, their blood pouring out the large holes in their heads as they collapsed into dust.

With a final breath out, Violet spun towards where Mona should have been fighting the three Pixies and heard three loud bangs ring over the cramped battlefield. She saw each Pixie fall to the ground with the center of their torsos blown out before crumpling into black dust and blood. However, her amazement faded as she laid eyes on Joker; he looked exhausted, with his right arm still disfigured and the uncountable wounds on his body still leaking blood.

“Senpai, are you alri–?”

“Now, time to finally have some fun while you watch, ape!” 

Violet stopped running towards Joker as Shadow Kamoshida’s voice echoed throughout the Foyer, and she could see the realization, irritation, and determination all mixed with Joker’s eyes. “Bring me out of here,” Joker said, and Violet didn’t hesitate as she sprinted towards Joker and wrapped her arm around his waist. “No, pick me up. We’ll need as much mobility as possible, and you can’t move that well helping me like this.”

“A-alright.” Violet nodded, reaching down and sliding her left arm under Joker’s strong thighs, but there was no time for embarrassment as she ran out from their cover. The scene from when she last saw it had gotten much worse as the blonde boy was on his hands and knees, no Shadows around him, with tears flowing down his face.

“Am I going to lose to this asshat again?” Violet heard him cry out, but her focus quickly shifted towards Shadow Kamoshida and the rest of the guards and felt her disgust rise through her chest and up her throat; the Shadow of the awful man was standing in front of the restrained blonde girl, licking his lips furiously as his hands hovered around her body with her hoodie already unzipped. Her body was thrashing against the Shadows grip on her, but Violet knew how strong the Shadows were and that the girl wouldn’t be able to break free on her own.

“Is… is this my punishment… for not being there for Shiho?”

Shadow Kamoshida backed away slightly from the girl and threw his head back and let out a string of hateful laughter.

“Hahah! That’s more like it! Both of you quaking in fear and despair before I finish you both o–”

“What the hell are you two doing?!”

Violet winced as Joker roared within her arms and felt her blood chill as she saw the rage written clearly on his face.

“Huh?” Both of the blondes, along with all of the Shadows, looked towards the Persona users, and Violet felt an awful pang of dread spread through her chest.

“Are you really going to let this monster win?” Joker continued shouting, his eyes razor sharp despite the state his body was in. “Why the hell did you two come in here again if you’re just going to lay down and be killed?!”

“B-but… Shiho was my only friend… and I failed her…” The blonde girl cried out.

“That… that asshat is stealing everything I have away from me again!”

Neither of the blondes were listening to Joker, and Violet felt a sudden rush of frustration as she tightened her grip around Joker.

“Everyone screws up, but it's what we do afterwards that defines us as humans! If you give up now, do you think she’ll ever forgive you?! If you’re truly her friend, you won’t let that sorry excuse for a human get to you!” Violet found herself screaming at the top of her lungs at the blonde, her tears flying onto the ground as her arms carrying Joker began shaking and she turned towards the boy. However, before she could continue, she felt Joker’s hand fall on her own and she looked down to see him only nod, the message being sent clear as day to Violet as she took a deep breath.

“You, what the hell are you doing back here?! You fully knew the dangers of this place, yet you returned knowing said risks, and now you have the audacity to even suggest it was a mistake?!”

The entire room went silent besides Violet’s and Joker’s short, rapid breaths. Violet forced her attention towards the blonde girl, noticing Kamoshida’s Shadow staring directly at her, as Joker’s head stayed facing towards the boy.

“Hmph, what a valiant effort to raise these two’s spirits, but it’s for naught,” Shadow Kamoshida mocked the two teens, ending with a sinister chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to kill you three after I’m done with these two. Now, where was I?”

“You’ve been going on and on, and we’ve just been taking it all in…” Violet’s eyes darted towards the blonde boy as he struggled to his feet, holding his left side with his right hand.

“Acting like some sort of higher being, like everything and everyone around you is somehow beneath you…” The blonde girl’s voice barely reached Violet, and she felt Joker tugging on her sleeve and he motioned for her to go closer.

“Huh?” Shadow Kamoshida took a step back as his obnoxious cape began flapping wildly due to the immense pressure coming from both of the blondes, and Violet stopped and attempted to cover Joker’s head with her left arm. “What are you fools doing? Stop th–”

“Stop lookin’ down on me with that stupid smile on your face!” The blonde boy stopped right in front of Kamoshida as he screamed at him.

“Shut up!” Behind the Shadow, the girl spoke quietly but firmly, her voice barely reaching Violet. 

“Wait, don’t tell me…” Mona stated and, before Violet could ask what he was going on about, both blondes let out cries of pain. The Shadows holding back the girl actually seemed to struggle as her flailing became more sporadic and violent while the blonde boy had fallen to the ground, hands gripping his head as he let out pained cries.

‘This is just when I awakened to Cendrillon!’ Violet finally realized as another burst of air pressure flowed from the two blondes as they let out one last scream, blowing the guard holding the girl against the wall onto their backs. 

“Geh… AHH!” The entire Foyer was filled with the sounds of pained cries, quickly getting drowned out by the flames that surrounded the two blondes, growing larger and larger until two sudden gusts blew them away. Violet’s eyes widened at the two beings in front of the blondes, effectively trapping Shadow Kamoshida in between them; the one in front of the girl was a pink skinned woman with a flowing red dress and two beings with hearts from heads underneath her foot and at the end of a thin rope, while the one in front of the blonde was a massive skeleton wearing what Violet thought of to be pirate captain’s clothing riding on a pirate ship with a cartoonish face painted on the front.

“Right on… Wassup Persona!”

“You stole everything from Shiho… You destroyed her…”

At once the battlefield shifted as the girl, who was now clad in a red skin tight catsuit, dashed towards the nearest Shadow which had just gotten back to its feet and slammed her right foot into its sword arm, sending the blade spinning into the air. Violet and the other two watched as she soared into the air, grabbed the sword, and cut her doppleganger in half, not even bothering to watch her disappear as the blonde stood back up. At the same time, the blonde boy, who was now wearing a black jacket with yellow gloves along with what Violet thought looked a lot like a vertebral column attached to his back, dashed towards the other Shadow that was previously holding the girl back and slammed his newly formed metal rod into its head, knocking it back to the ground with a splatter of blood near its dented head.

“This effin rocks!” The boy shouted as he turned towards Shadow Kamoshida along with the girl.

“Now it’s your turn. I will rob you of everything!” The girl screamed, pointing her pink gloved hand at Shadow Kamoshida, who scrambled behind two Golden Shadows who had risen from the ground.

“Tch, teach them a lesson!” The Shadow shouted, and Violet looked down and made eye contact with Mona as the two Golden Shadows began convulsing.

“Look behind Kamoshida’s Shadow; there’s no way you guys can fight all of them off, even with those two just awakening,” Joker cut in, seemingly reading Violet’s mind as she looked down at him. “Mona, have those two find an opening in the stronger Shadow’s attacks, and then we break for it. Violet, take me closer to the door and prepare to run as soon as they find said opening. Neither of us are in a good enough condition to fight, but I’ll at least send Arsene over to provide some assistance.”

Violet looked at Joker for a split second; she wanted to argue with him, but she knew he was right, and they were quickly running out of time as two giant Shadows rose from the black pool where the Golden Shadows once stood, one being a horse rider wearing red armor wielding a long spear while the other was a demon… sitting on a toilet middair? Violet shook her head as she dashed towards the still open door, Joker ripping off his mask as she stopped just shy of running through the doorway. “Go, Arsene!”

The demonic Persona, upon forming completely, shot towards the battle, leaving Violet and Joker to watch from a distance as Mona also summoned his bulky Persona, Zorro. Violet was too far away to hear exactly what was going on as elemental attacks began flying in the center of the room, but she did see Arsene slice through two untransformed Shadows with his power-infused legs and she looked down to cheer on Joker, but frowned as she saw his face coated with sweat and immense strain.

“Senpai, will you be alright?” Violet asked as a flash of fire was flung from the blonde girl’s Persona, hitting the red armored Shadow and forcing it back slightly.

“I’m… not sure,” Joker responded, with the blonde boy’s Persona aiming its arm cannon at and firing a bolt of electricity at the toilet sitting Shadow, causing it to spin midair as it quickly righted itself. His face seemed to pale even more with each passing second, and Violet felt a wave of concern and fear crash over her as she tightened her grip on Joker’s body.

‘We need to go now!’ was the only thought in her mind, and she looked back up to see the three Persona users on the back foot, each of their Personas wavering while Arsene continued tearing through the lesser Shadows. ‘How can Senpai keep attacking like that while he’s in this state?’

However, as Violet finished her thought, Joker drew in a sudden intake of air as Arsene was slammed to the ground by an unfused Shadow’s shield and disappeared as Joker’s mask reformed on his face. “Shit…” Joker continually gasped for air, his back arching slightly in Violet’s arms, who couldn’t do anything but hold him even tighter.

“Guys, hurry up! We need to go now, or Joker might…” Violet began shouting towards the combatants, but suddenly choked up as the thought of Joker dying flashed in her mind; it was too much to bear, to think that this person that had helped her so much was suffering in her arms. However, as her vision began blurring, she felt Joker’s hand on hers once again and looked down to see him attempting another smile.

“Violet, I’ll be fine.”

Violet’s fears weren’t assuaged at all, but she tried to smile back at Joker nonetheless. He was trying to be strong for her sake, so what right did she have to be weak at this moment?

“Violet, Joker, let’s go!”

All of a sudden, Mona and the two blondes sped past Violet and through the open doorway, and it only took a glance back for Violet to start chasing after them as a horde of Shadows were flying towards her and Joker, the two giant Shadows in the back and, from the brief glance Violet took, looking extremely weak.

“Wait, are those their actual names?” Violet heard the blonde boy ask as she pushed off her right leg and dashed into the storage room, a mixed wave of elemental energy passing behind her as she did so.

“I’ll explain later!” Mona shouted in response, his voice faint as the three of them were already out of the castle. Due to Violet not having access to her arms because of Joker, she took a running jump towards the open duct, holding Joker close to her chest as they passed through the opening and landed roughly on the ground outside with Violet positioning herself underneath Joker.

“Violet! Are you alright?” Mona’s voice cut through the ringing in Violet’s ears, and she shook her head hard to shake it off.

“Y-yeah, thank you,” Violet responded, shifting under Joker’s weight and moving his head off her chest. The feeling of embarrassment pricked the back of her head, but Violet pushed it back; she could let that feeling out later, right now she needed to focus on Joker.

“H-hey, what the hell is going on!? You’re a talking cat, right?” The blonde girl turned towards Mona before looking down at herself and gasping. “What am I wearing? And why is it so revealing?”

“I think it looks good on you,” the boy cut in with a smirk, but Violet wasn’t concentrating on their conversation as she saw that Joker’s eyes were shut. The dread creeping up on her stayed at bay as she felt his chest move, but worry flooded her mind as his face was extremely pale and disformed in intense pain.

“Please… Please hang on, Senpai!” Violet whispered as she scrambled to her feet and, without another word to the other Persona users, ran out of the Metaverse, her only friend unconscious in her arms.


	8. Wounds of Battle

_“Tri...ster…”_

‘Huh?’

Akira couldn’t see or feel anything, his body stuck floating in some sort of thick, unknown liquid. He attempted to look around, but he couldn’t move his head, nothing but darkness around him anyways; just where was he?

_“Y… are ...oken…”_

‘Dammit, speak up!’ Akira tried to call out, but found no words would come out even as his mouth moved. ‘What the hell is going on?!’

_“Onl… way ...o fi… is Fa…”_

‘Fa?’ Akira forced himself to take a deep breath, even though no sound came as he did so, and tried to clear his mind. Wherever he was, Akira found it felt eerily similar to the Velvet Room. ‘But why am I floating like this if I am in the Velvet Room? And where’s Igor and the wardens?’

_“Hur… Tim… is ...ort…”_

“Oh? It appears the prisoner is finally awakening…” 

The darkness around Akira faded as the dim light Akira associated with only one place flooded his retina’s, forcing him to wince as he quickly reoriented himself. His back was now against the metal bed within the Velvet Room, but he wasn’t allowed even the briefest moment of relief as pain rocketed throughout his body. His entire torso felt like it was on fire with unbelievable pain, with his right arm and shoulders clearly feeling broken as Akira tried to shift off his back. However, the chains connected to his wrists and ankles were extremely taught, not even allowing Akira to move his body.

“Hmm… how intriguing…” Igor’s voice rang above Akira, barely cutting through his roaring headache. “It appears that you have awakened somewhat to an incredible power you have no control over, and not only has it decimated all the enemies in your path, but it has also left your body in extreme disrepair.”

“D-disrepair?” Akira was shocked at how weak his voice sounded, barely even escaping his own mouth as he stopped struggling.

“It means you went overboard and now you’re paying the price, Inmate!” Caroline’s voice was sharp as it reached Akira’s ears, but the pain he was already feeling made her words seem small in comparison.

“It appears that this power stemmed from your shattered soul, your disregard for yourself as you simply wish to destroy those around you,” Igor continued on, and with each word Akira felt progressively more sick. He didn’t want any of that... He just wanted to be left alone. “You may have already noticed that you are locked to your bed. Do not worry; this appears to be temporary along with the wounds on your body, but I must warn that your heart teeters on the brink of absolute destruction. I will say this portion with uncertainty, for even for myself this is uncharted territory: If using only a fraction of this furious power put you in this state, than be cautious of utilizing a…ll of i...t”

“Se...ai...”

Akira’s body shook slightly as it felt like he was ripped from the Velvet Room. Instead of being chained to the ice cold metal bed in complete agony, he was leaning against an uncomfortably stoney wall with his eyes shut. However, the pain he was feeling was dulled significantly as he shifted slightly on the rough concrete underneath him. 

‘What the hell is going on? Wasn’t I just in the Velvet Room?’ Akira thought as he pressed his right hand onto the ground to try and shift his body more, but felt a sudden rush of immense pain spread from the center of his forearm. Letting out a grunt, Akira took off all the pressure on his right arm and finally realized that his eyes were closed again along with the fact that there was a slight, cool breeze hitting his face.

“Senpai… please wake up…”

‘Sumire?’ Akira tried to open his eyes, but it felt like they had sandbags weighing them down. ‘Why does her voice sound so distant?’ Akira attempted to shift his body once more, this time putting pressure on his left arm, and didn’t feel the same intense pain as he did in his right as he pushed himself upright against the wall. However, his back erupted in pain as the jagged edges of the wall dug into the holes on his back.

“A-Ah!” A cry of pain escaped Akira’s lips as he forced himself upright, and he felt a warm liquid beginning slowly fall along his back.

“Senpai!” Suddenly, a soft hand fell on Akira’s right shoulder as Sumire’s voice called out to him, finally sounding clear to him as he struggled to open his eyes. Blinding light poured into his eyes as Akira finally pried them open, forcing him to keep them closed for a few more seconds to allow the burning sensation to pass before slowly opening them fully. 

“S-Sumire?” Akira muttered; he felt disoriented as he took in his surroundings. It appeared that he was in front of Shujin in the alleyway, but why was he pulled from the Velvet Room so abruptly? However, Akira didn’t have time to think through the reason for why he was back in reality as he laid eyes on Sumire and Morgana in front of him, the former with tears building up in her eyes as the ruby orbs stared directly at him. “What’s… What happened?”

“You’re awake!” Sumire shouted gleefully, her voice sharp as Akira winced slightly with his head beginning to throb. “Thank god… I wasn’t sure what I was going to do…”

It appeared that Sumire didn’t notice that Akira was in pain and, as he looked back up, it was clear why as he saw her tears streaking down her face. Akira tried to reach up with his right arm, but was quickly reminded why that was a bad idea as another wave of pain spread within an instant throughout the injured arm, and Akira let out another groan.

“I… I thought that… that I was going… going to lose you as well…” Sumire’s voice was cracking as Akira saw her tears speed down her face with small sobs escaping her throat. “I… I…”

“Sumire, it’s alright now,” Akira found himself saying, startling both himself and Sumire as the redhead blinked rapidly. 

A few seconds went by as Akira stared into Sumire’s teary red orbs, holding the pain at bay as he kept his body entirely still, and internally sighed in relief as the girl’s tears began to slow. “Are… are you sure? You… you’re so beat… beat up…” 

Akira closed his eyes; it was true that he hurt like hell, and he could feel his blood seep into his school uniform and even his blazer. However, he inhaled slowly as he pushed down on the ground with his left hand, feeling an instant wave of pain surge throughout his upper body, but he forced his way through the searing pain as he pushed himself to a squat.

“Senpai, you shouldn’t be moving so much!” Sumire was suddenly inches from Akira’s face, her concern beating out the fear previously strewn across her face as her right hand fell onto Akira’s free shoulder. 

“Ngh…” Akira grunted. The sudden pressure Sumire putting on his shoulders not only hurt immensely, but also made his temper flare up. “Sumire, please get your hands off me…”

“Senpai?” Akira despised the darkness in his voice, but he couldn’t prevent it as Sumire’s hands were lifted off his shoulders, the sharp pain still present in his upper body as he forced himself to his feet. “O-oh! I’m sorry, Senp- Senpai, you’re bleeding!”

Akira looked down at the ground and found that a miniature puddle of blood was forming at his feet with drops of blood falling periodically. “I’ll be fine…” Akira managed to get out, feeling a sudden wave of nausea as the world began to spin.

“You don’t look fine! Please, let me take you into the school nurse!” Sumire pleaded, inching closer back towards Akira.

“Akira, just listen to her!” Morgana’s voice rang out as Akira saw the black cat approach him.

“I said I’ll be fine!” Akira’s voice rose as he grit his teeth and took a step away from the school. “I’m heading back to Leblanc, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As Akira walked away, bag swung over his left shoulder, his mind began to wander. ‘Igor was telling me about that power I used earlier… That my body and soul were in disrepair?’ Akira thought as he brought his right arm up, wincing from the sharp pain as he did so. Even beneath his blazer, Akira could see how swollen the middle of his forearm was, and there was also the fact that Akira felt stab wounds all across his upper body. He didn’t actually remember much after darkness obstructed his vision other than the flashes of pain he felt; it was like something else entirely had taken control of his body and forced his consciousness to the far reaches of his mind.

‘I do remember feeling a rush of pleasure along with an insane amount of pain coming from my right arm, but I couldn’t actually see anything. Not until I heard that voice...’ 

Akira felt a sudden rush of guilt flow throughout his chest, accompanying the thought of the strange but somehow familiar voice. He was too rough with her; she didn’t deserve to be treated that way. However, Akira didn’t know what to do as his legs continued moving him forward, passing through a large crowd that was progressively noticing him more and more. Whispers began flying around Akira as he walked towards the platform, but he didn’t hear any of them as his ears began ringing.

_This is the only way…_

_To let your anger, your hatred, fester and grow…_

“Shut… shut up…” Akira stumbled forward, gripping his head with his left hand as he barely felt himself bump into several people. 

_There is no future of happiness for you…_

_Nothing but despair awaits you if you continue trying to put off the inevitable…_

“Stop… it…” Tears began to drip off Akira’s face as he lurched forward, his throat clamping down and preventing him from breathing.

_Do you truly believe bonds will build you back up?_

_Bonds are what put you in this state…_

_Don’t you believe it is time to pick up your_ **_bla–?_ **

Akira’s eyes widened, his tears drying in an instant as he felt a gentle touch on his lower back. “Senpai… You’re hurting… Let me help you.” Sumire’s voice reached Akira’s ears as the pressure on his lower back increased, but it didn’t hurt. Instead, the guilt that was festering within Akira burned away with Sumire’s soft touch, and Akira slowly pulled himself and looked to his right to see Sumire. Despite the fear and concern etched onto her face, Akira felt a small amount of comfort as he stared into her red eyes behind her glasses.

“Alright… I’ll have to explain who you are to Sojiro when we get to Leblanc, but after that…” Akira trailed off; he wasn’t entirely sure what he needed from Sumire. No, it was more like there was too much he needed, none of which he could ask for help with.

“I think we need to bandage you up first, Senpai,” Sumire cut in as she led Akira onto the stopped train, still applying light but constant pressure onto his back. Akira had felt the bleeding begin to slow as he walked, but no blood was flowing down his back as Sumire held her hand against his back. 

Silence fell between the two as they waited by the train door, with Akira having his eyes closed from sheer exhaustion hitting him like a truck.

“What time is it, Sumire?” Akira asked, still keeping his eyes closed. However, as he didn’t receive a response from Sumire, he opened his eyes and looked over to see Sumire staring directly at him, but her eyes were glazed over. “Sumire?”

“Y-yes?!” Sumire nearly shouted, jolting up and causing numerous heads from around them to fly towards the two teens. Akira nearly smiled as Sumire looked downwards, a light blush forming on her face as she waved at the people around them in apology.

“I was just asking for the time,” Akira repeated.

“O-oh. Let me check real quick…” Sumire reached down and procured her plain-looking phone, which was slightly strange to Akira as he expected most girls to have some sort of cutesy case for their phones, but he just shook his head as Sumire looked back up at him. “It’s 5:30 right now.”

“Really?! It’s only 5:30?” 

With a timid nod, Sumire answered Akira’s bewildered question, and this time it was him that had to calm down as he looked downwards. ‘We were really only in the Metaverse for two hours? It didn’t feel like that at all; in fact, it felt much longer. I wish I could ask Morgana why that is…’

“Wait, where is Morgana?” Akira asked as he looked back up at Sumire, and his eyes narrowed as he detected a slight amount of pink on Sumire’s cheeks almost instantly. ‘Why is that question embarrassing? Did he say something to her?’

“H-he said h-he’s going to w-walk ar-around for a w-while…” 

Akira pushed all of his questions into the back of his mind as Sumire seemed to grow more uncomfortable and embarrassed and turned back towards the door as the train slowed to a stop. ‘It doesn’t matter now,’ Akira thought as the doors opened and took the first step between the two out into the underground station, and Sumire followed quickly behind him with her hand still pressing into his lower back. 

The rest of the way back to Leblanc was quiet besides the constant white noise around the two teens, but Akira found it actually easy to block it all out with Sumire’s hand still on him. Akira didn’t let the fact go unnoticed; if it was anyone else or even a few days prior, his skin would be crawling and his mind would be racing, but for some reason Sumire had this calming effect on him. Even though she had only been in his life for a few days now, she was the only one Akira let even remotely near his heart; she was the only he trusted, the only one he could fight side by side with.

“When we enter, tell my caretaker that I slipped and fell,” Akira said, stopping a few steps to the right of Leblanc’s entrance

“Senpai, are you sure it's okay to lie like that?” Sumire looked up at Akira, but the teen kept his eyes forward, peering into Leblanc from the side.

“It’s not like he would believe the truth anyways, and even if he did, I would probably be thrown out for causing trouble at school.” Akira looked over at Sumire, whose face was still scrunched in confusion, and let out a sigh. “Remember how we’re going to get expelled?”

Akira noticed Sumire’s face drop instantly and felt a pang of guilt, but running from reality wouldn’t do them any good. “R-right…” Sumire muttered, her voice barely reaching Akira’s ears as he turned his attention back onto the glass door. He was thankful that not many people were around as they walked through Yongen-Jaya, mainly because he really didn’t need any more attention.

“Let’s head in,” Akira said curtly, pressing his left hand on the door as he slowly swung it open. The small knot in his stomach grew rapidly as he saw Sojiro standing behind the counter, staring idly at the wooden surface before his gaze moved towards him and Sumire.

“Ah, you’re ba- Who’s her? What’s going on, kid?” Sojiro’s gruff voice immediately turned suspicious as Akira saw the man’s eyes widen; pretty much the exact response he was expecting.

“She’s a…” Akira found his voice faltering and felt a sudden and intense gaze on him from his right. “She’s a friend.” As the word “friend” left his lips, Akira felt Sumire shift beside him with the wooden floor creaking slightly underneath them and, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the girl’s face downcast towards the floor. ‘The hell’s up with her?’ Akira’s face twitched into a frown momentarily before he remembered that Sojiro was still staring at him and shifted his attention back onto the man.

“What’s going on that you’re bringing a girl back with you?” Sojiro walked from his place behind the counter towards Akira and Sumire before sitting down in the rightmost chair at the counter. “It hasn’t even been a week yet…”

Akira made sure not to show his shock as Sojiro’s words sent a jolt throughout his body. Everything around him had been moving so fast that Akira hardly believed that, just a week ago, he was still in his hometown, preparing to be shipped off to this previously unknown place. In just one week, his life had become routine; wake up, get dressed, and trudge to school, where he would simply keep his head down to avoid any confrontations. At least, that’s how it should have gone, but with the Metaverse, Kamoshida, and Sumire, Akira’s life had changed drastically, and he wasn’t sure if it was for better or for worse.

“I-I’m sorry if I’m intruding, but… Akira-senpai tripped earlier and injured himself a-and I want to make sure h-he’s okay.” Akira blinked twice as Sumire’s voice broke through his thoughts and was suddenly hyper aware of Sumire’s hand on his back as it gently moved up.

“That so?” Sojiro’s face immediately softened as his gaze focused on Sumire, and Akira almost felt like he was being pushed to the side to be an observer, although that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Well, there’s a clinic near the rundown movie theater just down the alley, so I suggest you try there. She should still be open.”

“Thank you sir!” Sumire bowed at the waist, and Akira noticed a smile on her face as she straightened back up.

“No need for that, just call me Boss like everyone else,” Sojiro chuckled, waving his right hand in front of him dismissively. 

“O-okay, B-Boss…” Sumire fidgeted with her free hand next to Akira, but he still saw the timid smile on her face. ‘I guess Sojiro is kind of intimidating…’ Akira shrugged as he turned back towards the door, Sumire’s hand falling from his back as he walked slowly towards the glass exit.

“Better catch up to him…” Akira heard Sojiro as he pushed on the door and entered into the cool evening spring breeze.

“Sumire Yoshizawa!” 

“Well, Sumire, he’s got… a hea…” Akira couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation as the door closed behind him, and he began walking towards the rundown theater Sojiro had mentioned. With Sumire’s hand no longer on his back, Akira made sure to limit the swaying of his upper body while moving; the bleeding had stopped, but he could tell that it wouldn’t take much to restart it. Akira looked down at his right arm as he passed by the grocery store. He was almost positive that it was broken before, but the bone felt intact, although there was still immense swelling and, as Akira pulled back his sleeve, deep scarring in the area in which he thought the bone had shattered.

“I guess wounds do heal when we come out of the Metaverse…” Akira muttered to himself, ignoring the feeling of people looking at him as he continued staring at his arm. “I don’t remember it happening, but I was healed somewhat inside the Metaverse when I woke up. Did Sumire just not fully heal me? Morgana should also be able to heal though…”

“Senpai!”

Akira stopped just as he began to turn towards the movie theater and looked to his left just as Sumire stopped right next to him. She was panting somewhat, Akira noticed, as she looked up at him. ‘Did she really have to sprint after me?’

“Couldn’t you have waited for me?” Sumire asked with a hint of hurt in her voice, and again Akira saw her face shift into a pout.

“Sorry,” Akira replied curtly, resuming his walk as he fully turned down the side alley with Sumire keeping at his side and her hand finding its place back on his back.

“Boss seems like a nice man, do you two get along?”

“No,” Akira said dryly as his gaze fell on a sign reading “Takemi Medical Clinic” and made his way towards the stairs.

“Why not?” Sumire’s gaze intensified as Akira kept his eyes forward, making sure to keep a straight face.

“There’s no reason to get ‘get along’ with him. As long as I stay out of trouble as far as he knows, I’ll have a place to live.” Without another word and before Sumire could respond, Akira reached forward and pulled open the door.

A well lit waiting room met Akira’s eyes as he entered the clinic with Sumire following right behind him. To his left, sitting in a cubicle, was a blue haired woman in a white lab coat and wearing a black studded choker looking idly down at, what Akira assumed to be, her desk.

“...Is this your first visit?” The woman asked without raising her head, keeping her eyes downwards as Akira saw her move a stack of papers across her desk.

“Yeah.” Akira leaned slightly on his left leg and continued staring at the woman; something about the woman put him off.

“So, what are you two here for today?”

“Some bandages,” Akira responded, and couldn’t prevent the frown as the woman finally looked up at him and Sumire.

“You could have picked those up at a convenience store, you know,” the woman, who Akira was nearly positive was Takemi as there was no one else in the building, stated plainly. However, Akira noticed her eyes narrow as her head moved downward, and followed her gaze to Sumire’s hand on his back. “Is it you that need the bandages?” 

Akira simply nodded, allowing the woman to continue as she stood up from her seat. However, he and Sumire stood in awkward silence as Takemi walked through a door to her left, but they didn’t wait too long as Takemi emerged from the door to their right. Akira felt extremely uncomfortable as the woman approached him, her eyes still focused on the hand on his back. 

“You appear to be pressing down on his back fairly hard, is there any bleeding?” The woman asked as she stood straight up with a clipboard in her right hand.

“U-um… there was, but n-not anymore.” Akira glanced over to see Sumire clearly caught off guard with the sudden question. ‘These wounds aren’t natural, so it would be extremely annoying if she told Sojiro the state my body is in… I can’t have Sumire take the brunt of this woman’s questions either.’

“If you could just give me some bandages, we can apply them later.” Akira hoped that his brief explanation would take the woman’s eyes off his back, but it didn’t do much as the woman backed off with her eyes still looking towards his back.

“I can give you the bandages… if you allow me to examine you.” 

‘Of course this would happen…’

“Is that necessary? It’s just a few cuts that normal bandages would be ineffective to use.” Again, Akira was betting on his dry tone and emotionless face to convince the woman, but yet again, the woman seemed to grow more entrenched in her own plans as she walked towards the still open door.

“It’s clear that it’s more than simply a ‘few cuts’, as you put it. I noticed some dry blood just on the side of your blazer even though it blended in well, so I can’t simply give you bandages without first examining the wounds.”

Akira stood his ground, eyes locked with the woman’s as the clinic went silent. He didn’t trust this woman; why should he? “I’ll go to the convenience store then. I’m of–” As Akira began to turn away from the woman, he felt Sumire’s hand on his back fall away before gripping his right sleeve. ‘Dammit…’

Without looking over, Akira could feel Sumire’s pleading eyes on him and grit his teeth; how the hell did she have this much of an effect on him without even saying anything? Time slowed as every breath he took felt like it lasted an eternity, and Akira’s will was crumbling quickly as Sumire tugged even harder on his sleeve. 

“Senpai, please do it…” Sumire’s voice was faint and timid, but Akira closed his eyes as her plea bounced around his head. Did he really have a choice anymore?

“Fine… Just make it quick,” Akira groaned, and immediately felt Sumire’s gaze lighten as she let out a happy gasp. The back of his head pounded slightly as Akira walked through the door, not making eye contact with Takemi as Sumire followed close behind him. “Sumire, you can take your hand off my back now.”

“O-oh! S-sorry, Senpai…” Sumire yelped as the two set foot in what appeared to be a standard doctor’s office, her hand, which had found its place back onto his back, falling to her side.

“It’s alright,” Akira replied, and he stopped in the middle of the room and turned around just as the door shut behind him, with Takemi lackadaisically leaning against the door. “What do you want me to do?”

“Well, it appeared that most of your wounds were affecting your back, so I’ll need you to remove your blazer and shirt for me,” Takemi responded, her eyes dead as she walked towards Akira. As she did, Akira sighed as he immediately began sliding his blazer off but stopped as he heard a noise that sounded close to a mouse’s squeak behind him.

“You can leave if you want, Sumire, and I’ll meet up with you once it’s done,” Akira said without turning around, letting his left arm fall to his side.

“I-I’ll be o-okay…” Akira turned around and his eyebrows raised involuntarily as he saw the redhead’s face nearly the same color as her hair. ‘Why is she so embarrassed? I’m just taking off my shirt, and she knows she can leave or turn around…’

“Alright then.” Shrugging and subsequently wincing, Akira began fighting with his blazer and white turtleneck shirt with his left hand while his right hung idly, too swollen to do much of anything with. His blazer wasn’t much of an issue as it was already unbuttoned and he threw it on the bed, but his turtleneck was proving to be a pain with pulling it over his head with one hand.

“H-here… L-let me h-help you, S-Senpai,” Sumire said and, before Akira could react, moved in front of him and reached down for the bottom of his shirt even though her cheeks were now burning bright red. However, Akira didn’t object as he saw a strange amount of determination glittering in her eyes and allowed her to pull up his shirt, wincing as his bare skin was met with the cool air in the office as his shirt slowly came over his head.

“Oh…” Takemi let out as Sumire finished pulling Akira’s shirt off of him, being followed by a loud gasp from Sumire. “What… what did you do to get all of these puncture wounds?” 

Instead of answering, Akira looked down at his upper body and widened his eyes; even though the severity of the wounds largely decreased from the Metaverse into reality, the number of stab marks across his body was still disturbing. ‘What was that armor?’ Akira thought as he focused on his right arm, which was more swollen than he previously expected.

“May I?” Takemi’s voice jolted Akira back to reality as her hand hovered over the center of his chest, and Akira nodded, finding no other alternative. He simply needed the bandag–

“Ugh…” Akira drew in a sharp breath as Takemi’s cool hand pressed into his chest, and he felt a rush of pain spread from the point of contact. However, he took in a deep breath and steadied himself, and Takemi removed her hand from his chest.

“Hmm… Responds to pain, but appears to have a high threshold for it…” Takemi muttered as she moved towards a cabinet above the desk parallel with the bed and began to rummage through it, eventually procuring a large roll of gauze. “Hold out your arms, I’m going to do your upper body first.”

Akira did as told as Takemi moved towards him, barely able to hold his right arm up as Takemi began unwrapping the gauze starting at his waist. She was slow and methodical in applying the bandaging, clearly trying to balance the pressure on the wounds so it wouldn’t be constricting Akira’s torso, but this fact put immense strain on Akira’s right arm as it began to shake violently.

As Takemi reached Akira’s thoracic cavity, his arm gave out, but two gentle hands caught it before it could swing back to Akira’s side. Akira looked over to his side to see both of Sumire’s hands holding up his arm at his wrist and by his elbow, the blush on her face now being accompanied with a smile. 

“Thanks,” Akira said just as Takemi finished bandaging his chest.

“Alright, I’ll do both of your arms now,” Takemi stated and, with a nod from Akira, began work on his left arm first. As gauze was applied from his shoulder downward, Akira finally found some time to think as the two women on either side of him remained silent. ‘It’s frustrating that I don’t remember fighting those Shadows earlier today, but at least I know that that’s when I injured my arm.’ 

As Takemi ripped off the piece of gauze for Akira’s left arm and moved over to his right side, Akira focused on his back, primarily his upper back near his shoulders. ‘Those feel different from everything else, but why? It feels almost like a burn, but not quite the same way the burn the first day I went in felt…’

“By the way,” Takemi interrupted Akira’s thoughts, his head swiveling towards the woman with Sumire right next to her as she finished up his right arm. “There appeared to be some sort of burn across your upper back. I was able to cover the afflicted area well enough, but I am wondering what you did to get all these injuries. Numerous stab wounds, burn marks on your back that closely resemble the results of an electrical burn, and intense swelling on your right arm; what is someone your age doing with all of these injuries?”

“How much do I owe you?” Akira asked, keeping a straight face as he stared at Takemi. There wasn’t an answer that he could give that Takemi would actually believe, and besides, Akira wasn’t even sure himself how he got them.

“So, you won’t answer me…” Takemi sighed, moving back towards the open cabinet and putting the now heavily used roll of gauze away. “I would say… 5000 yen for today.”

“Alright,” Akira said, reaching down into his pocket for his wallet and handing over the amount exactly. Somehow, after returning from the Metaverse, Akira had found himself quite a bit richer and, with the savings he had brought with him from back home, costs like this weren’t a big deal. 

“Well, if that’s all for today, you can go, although if possible I would like you to come in tomorrow to reapply the bandages and see how you’re doing.” As Takemi spoke, she walked towards and out the door into her office, leaving Akira and Sumire in her office.

“Alright, we should head out now,” Akira said as he began to turn, but stopped as his right arm wasn’t turning with him. “Sumire, you can let go of my arm now.”

A few moments passed, and Akira’s arm was still in the frankly uncomfortable position. Sighing, Akira turned just his head back towards the redhead who was staring at his bandaged chest, her eyes wide but glazed over. ‘Right, I should probably put my clothes back on first…’ Akira thought, glancing over towards the articles of clothing on the white bed. As he began to walk towards the bed and tried to retrieve his arm from Sumire’s grip, her hands instead tightened slightly around it.

“Sumire, I need to put my clothes back on now.” Akira leaned over towards Sumire and snapped right in front of her dazed face, eliciting a startled yelp from the girl.

“S-Senpai!” Sumire stood straight up, the strange blush appearing once again onto her cheeks.

“Could you let go of my arm Sumire? I need to put my clothes back on,” Akira said simply, making sure to hold back the irritation taking hold in his head. He saw the redhead look down slowly at the arm in her hands and then back up towards Akira before finally seeing the realization hit her eyes.

“Oh! I-I’m sor–”

“Don’t worry about it,” Akira cut in before Sumire could bow while finishing her apology, reaching over for the two pieces of clothing on the bed. ‘Damn, these really are bloody… Luckily I have spares, so it’s not that big of a deal, and the little blood on the blazer is barely noticeable to most people.’

The struggle to now put on his clothes began as Akira tried and failed to wrangle his turtleneck over his head with only his left hand. “Dammit… Shit...” Akira cursed, finally getting his left arm through and pulled the collar fully over his head, but now he was presented with the final hurdle of slipping his right arm through the sleeve.

“Here, l-let me help.” As Akira began to painfully bend his right arm to go through the sleeve, Sumire’s hands grabbed hold of the arm once again, leading it through the sleeve with ease. “I-I’ll also g-get your blazer,” Sumire stuttered, letting go of Akira’s arm as she reached behind her for the black piece of clothing. Akira didn’t attempt to object as Sumire easily guided his blazer on, breathing out a sigh of relief as he let his right arm rest at his side. 

Akira nodded at Sumire who, for some reason, looked away hurriedly. However much Akira wanted to ask what was going on with her, now wasn’t the time or place for that, so he was able to hold back his curiosity as he picked up his bag and swung it over his shoulder. “Alright, I’m heading back to Leblanc to do some work before going to bed. What’re you going to do?”

“I’m pretty tired, so I’ll head home…” Sumire’s voice was small and timid, only making her harder to hear as her head was still facing away from Akira. 

“Alright, so I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Akira turned towards the door and began to walk towards the exit, and heard Sumire’s quick and quiet footsteps follow behind him. As he neared the exit, Akira turned his head towards Takemi, who was looking down at her desk once more. “And you want me to come in tomorrow for rebandaging?”

“Yes,” was all Takemi responded with, not bothering to look up from her desk. Akira nodded, mainly to himself as he made a mental note of that, before resuming walking towards and out the clinic door. If it was completely up to him, he wouldn’t come back after today, but after Takemi’s affirmation, Akira felt Sumire’s eyes lock onto the back of his head and knew instantly that it would be less of a pain to just accept.

“Hey Sumire, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Akira said, stopping in the crossroads of the main road and the alley that led to Leblanc. He felt Sumire stop right behind him, but didn’t bother to turn around. “What happened to those two blondes?”

“O-oh… after we e-escaped from the Me-Metaverse and I s-sat you against t-the wall, they wanted to ta-talk more about what ha-happened… but I couldn’t fo-focus on anything e-else but you, so th-they left after M-Morgana gave a b-brief explanation.” 

The shaking in Sumire’s voice was bothering Akira; it wasn’t like she was close to tears or anything, and it didn’t sound like she was afraid, so what was causing her to be like this? ‘That doesn’t matter right now,” Akira thought, shaking his head slightly. ‘Figures those two would just walk off… Actually, pretty much exactly what I expected.’

“Alright,” Akira responded, taking a step to his left towards Leblanc before stopping again. He closed his eyes and took a breath in; Sumire was the one that stayed by his side, the one that helped him after… whatever happened to him, and something was going on that put her in this state. “Sumire.”

Akira turned his head towards the redhead, who looked directly into his eyes with her ruby orbs, and managed as close to a genuine smile as possible. 

“You’ve been extremely helpful today. Not just in the Metaverse, but also out here and forcing me to go to the clinic to get bandaged up. These words might be empty coming from someone like me, but…” Akira trailed off, taking a deep breath as he held his eyes closed for a second before reopening them.

“Thank you, Sumire.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, thanks for the awesome response to last chapter! This one was shorter and chiller than the last couple ones to allow you guys a break, but I have some big plans for the upcoming chapters. And so, I actually have a question: If I were to recommend music for certain parts of a chapter, how should I go about it? I was simply considering giving the link and the place to begin the song in the chapter, but I would like your guys' opinions as well.
> 
> As always, thank you so much for being amazing readers, and I'm excited to continue writing this story!


	9. One Step Forward, One Step Backward

Sumire found herself staring out the window of her classroom, blocking out her teacher droning on about math. On most days she would be able to hold her focus, even after meeting Akira and learning about the Metaverse, but today...

‘I wonder how Senpai is doing… I hope he’s okay,’ she thought as she bounced her pencil idly against her desk, something else that was unusual for her. Ever since parting ways with Akira the day prior, her gut was stuck in an endless knot. She knew that he would be fine physically, at least for the most part; he was going to go back to Takemi’s today to get his body checked over again and rebandaged. However, that’s not what she was worried about.

“Yoshizawa-san, please answer this question for us.” Sumire’s head jolted up, locking eyes with the short haired female teacher at the front of the room with an algebra equation behind her.

“U-um…” Sumire felt instantly flushed, all eyes from around the room landing on her as she quickly scribbled out the equation on her notepad. Her hand was shaking as she wrote; it felt like the air around her was pushing down on her, tightening her chest and making it hard to breathe. “I-is it… X is equal to five and one third?”

“No, but you were close. It is X is equal to five and two thirds,” the teacher stated, a calm smile on her face as she turned back towards the board, but tears were already threatening Sumire again as she looked down at her notebook. How much of a failure was she that she couldn’t even solve a simple equation? ‘Akira-senpai could do it…’ Even worse, all the gazes locked onto her tiny body were now accompanied by a slew of whispering.

“I thought she was supposed to be an honors student.”

“Man, the school’s wasting their time on someone like her?”

“Right? I could have solved that question.”

“Do ya think it’s something to do with that Transfer Student?”

Sumire’s eyes locked onto a small crack of her desk as a sudden coldness overtook her body. They were definitely talking about Akira, but why? Why were they so quick to assume he was a bad person? ‘Is it because of his record? Because of how he presents himself? If any one of these people actually took the time to try and get to know him, they would see the same person I see…’

Thankfully, just as Sumire’s body began shaking violently, the bell for the end of class rang, being followed closely to all of Sumire’s classmates standing up at once. It was at that moment that she realized how tight her grip was around her pencil, her nails digging into her palms as she forced herself to take a deep breath. ‘Senpai wouldn’t want me to get so upset about that…’ Sumire shook her head as she stood up, slightly light headed as she picked up her bag and straightened herself. She knew feeling angry at rumors that held no basis in reality was useless, but she couldn’t help it as her blood was still hot as she stepped outside her classroom. ‘I have to calm down. They’re wrong about him, plain and simple. I can’t keep getting worked up.’

With each step through the bustling crowd, Sumire felt more and more irritated. She hadn’t felt this way in a while, this amount of anger, except since…

“No… Not now…” Sumire stumbled forward, her right hand going up towards her head as she stopped dead center in the hallway. ‘Kasumi… why?’ Horrible words were flung from the rushing crowd as Sumire bent over, but none of the disdainful comments directed at her made it to her ears as her eyes shut to prevent any tears from flowing down. “Why… why did you…”

“Sumire, what’s wrong?!”

Sumire’s eyes flung open, and the tears that had been leaking out began rushing down her face as the voice that she wanted to hear the most at that point reached her ears. “S-Senpai?” Sumire could barely see Akira’s blurred face through her tears as she raised her head, but just the sight alone cut into the darkness encroaching on her heart. She could barely breathe and her legs were shaking, but just the sight of the sole friendly face in this tormented place allowed a brief reprieve of the thoughts threatening her mind.

“Here, come with me.” Before Sumire could even fully process what Akira said, her hand was being held firmly in his as he began walking. The constant rush of tears from Sumire’s eyes prevented her from seeing where Akira was leading her, but she hardly cared. The softness of Akira’s hand mixed with the firmness in his grip, how he gently led her forward up a staircase while also shouting at people to move in front of them as; this was the Akira she knew, and her chest began to loosen ever so slightly. The memories of her sister were still present within Sumire’s mind, but it was as if Akira was fighting them off just with his presence, just with his grip around her hand. 

“...mire! Sumire!” 

Sumire blinked twice, her tears falling to the ground as a shiver ran across her body. She and Akira were now on the rooftop, the door swinging closed behind her as Sumire felt the cool spring breeze hit her face and made her hair flow behind her. However, Akira was still blurry as she tried to focus before finally realizing the lack of weight resting on the bridge of her nose.

“Glasses…” Sumire muttered, hyper aware of how close Akira’s face was to hers as she looked down at the ground. Her heart was beating fast as heat spread throughout her chest and onto her cheeks, her hands fidgeting with her skirt when Akira suddenly grabbed her wrist and placed an object in her hand. “Wha–?”

“I saw them on the ground in front of you, so I made sure to pick them up for you,” Akira plainly answered Sumire’s question as let go of her wrist, her glasses staring back at her sitting in her palm as she unfurled her hand. 

“Th-thank you, Senpai,” Sumire said, unable to fight back the embarrassment in her voice as she bowed slightly towards Akira.

“Don’t mention it.” Akira waved in front of him before turning and walking towards the edge of the rooftop where two chairs and a table were set up. Sumire followed behind, her eyes focusing on Akira’s back. He looked so confident as he strode forward, almost as if he wasn’t injured at all, but deep down Sumire still couldn’t help but feel concerned.

“Senpai, are you alr–?”

“Are you okay, Sumire?” Akira cut in as he sat down, his eyes locking on with Sumire’s as he leaned forward on his thighs. 

“Wha-what do you mean?”

“I’m talking about your breakdown in the middle of the hallway just now.” Akira’s eyes remained sharp behind his glasses, concealing any emotions for Sumire to pick up on as he continued staring directly at her.

“O-oh… um…” Sumire’s hands began fidgeting once more as she lowered her head, unsure on how to answer Akira as his eyes were focused on her. 

“It had something to do with your sister, didn’t it?”

“Huh?” Sumire looked back up to see Akira’s eyes soften slightly. “H-how did you…”

“It was written on your face, and you usually don’t let rumors get to you like that.” Akira leaned back into his chair, leaving Sumire completely amazed; despite his unassuming manner in how he usually walks and holds himself, Akira was extraordinarily observant. 

“Y-yes… I-I just r-remembered h-how K-Ka…” As Sumire tried to go on, her throat clamping down again as she began to shake. ‘Why? Why did she sacrifice herself… for someone as useless as me?’ 

Just as Sumire felt her legs buckle and begin to fall, Akira’s hand grasped her wrist once more, again face to face with her. “It’s alright if you can’t talk about it right now, but I need you to calm down. Mona should be out in front of the school now, so I’m going to go get him real quick. Apparently he needs to tell us something.” Her wrist still in Akira’s hand, Sumire was gently led towards one of the chairs sitting opposite the railing of the rooftop. “Wait for me up here, alright? Call me if anyone tries to bother you, but I shouldn’t be long.”

Sumire nodded, her voice not working as she plopped down in the seat with Akira turning and walking towards the roof door, and just like that she was alone again. ‘No, that’s not right. He’s just going to be gone for a little while to get Morgana…’

Despite trying to constantly remind herself otherwise, Sumire felt a prickling feeling in the back of her head, whispers that told her that Akira was gone, that he wouldn’t come back, that he had left her. ‘Stop… He’ll be back… I know he will!’

Sumire attempted to calm herself by taking multiple deep breaths, but the uncertainty of Akira not coming back tried to fight its way into her mind. She knew he wouldn’t lie to her... but did she really? She had only met him a week ago, so maybe he was still hiding something deep within himself and would abandon her.

“No! That’s not Senpai! He wouldn’t have talked to me only to leave me!” Sumire shouted at herself, digging her nails into her thighs beneath her skirt as the pain kept her mind from wandering. 

Not even five minutes passed as Sumire heard footsteps approaching the rooftop, and she raised her head just in time to see Akira walk through the open door. She wanted to stand up and shout for joy while also wanted to apologise profusely for doubting Akira, neither side winning as she simply stared at Akira striding towards her with his bag rustling on his shoulder.

“Sumire, are you okay now?” Akira asked, setting down his black bag on the table as he sat down in the chair to Sumire’s right. As he positioned himself and leaned forward on the table, Sumire remembered that her nails were still digging into her thighs and quickly flattened her hands and pretended to smooth out her skirt.

“Y-Yes!” Sumire cringed as Akira’s eyes narrowed, the intensity exuding from his grey orbs drilling into Sumire’s skull as she continued to nervously play with her skirt, but she forced herself to take a deep breath as she kept eye contact with Akira. “I’m f-fine, Senpai. Thank you for y-your concern, th-though.”

Sumire let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as Akira leaned back in his seat, and the black haired teen’s bag unzipped from the inside and a familiar feline head popped out. “Nyah! Couldn’t one of you two let me out?!” Morgana shouted as he jumped out of the bag and sat down in the middle of the table. Sumire, despite what she had just been through and the dried tears still on her cheeks, smiled slightly at the ridiculousness in front of her.

“Whatever, let’s just start with our talk.” Akira said as Sumire saw him close his eyes, his face scrunching up in annoyance before leaning on the table once again, and her face evened out as she also looked at Morgana. “You mentioned something about needing equipment for the Metaverse last night, Morgana. What type of equipment are we talking about?”

Morgana’s ears flicked as he turned his head towards Akira with a grin(?) on his face. “Well, after you told me you went to a clinic near Leblanc, I figured that she would have all sorts of medicine to help us out!”

“Can’t we just use our healing abilities for that?” Sumire asked, tilting her head, but Morgana vehemently shook his head.

“I mean, unless you want to tire yourself out mentally before we even get a third of the way into the palace, I would recommend against that,” Morgana explained, and Sumire lowered her eyes towards the table. ‘That was a stupid question… I should have known better.’

“Wouldn’t carrying all that medicine slow us down? We don’t have anywhere to store it, and I’m assuming we would need quick access to it in a fight,” Akira asked, and Sumire forced herself to look back up; now wasn’t the time to feel sorry for herself.

“That’s true, but there is something strange that happens to items of value that you hold in the Metaverse. I’m sure you two are familiar with our weapons appearing and disappearing before and after fights, correct?” 

Sumire and Akira both nodded, and Sumire noticed that Morgana was getting more excited as he began bouncing on the table. “Well, those items of value act similarly to that!”

“So they disappear and appear at will…” Akira muttered, his brow creasing as he looked like he was deep in thought, and she perked up as a question entered her mind.

“Wait, where do our weapons and items go when they disappear?”

“Ah, excellent question!” Morgana practically jumped as he spun towards Sumire, and both Sumire and Akira sat straight in anticipation for the answer. Finally, maybe some answers for something that seemed so mind boggling. “I have no idea!”

“You have…” Sumire began, seeing Akira’s jaw drop in disbelief to the side of her.

“...no idea?” Akira finished, and Morgana gave them a big nod in response.

“Yep, I have no clue where they go or how they even appear. I just think it and it pops into my hand.”

“So even you don’t know, huh?” Akira said idly, almost like the words slipped out of his mouth as he crossed his arms. “But that at least takes care of that issue, and I can sneak the medicine inside my bag as that somehow disappears when we enter the Metaverse.”

“Is there anything else we need then?” Sumire asked, getting the two’s attention before Akira looked back at Morgana.

“I would say that our equipment could use some upgrading.”

“Do you mean our weapons?” Sumire blinked at the cat as he nodded.

“Things have been kinda non-stop the past couple of days, so I haven’t been able to give you two a proper course on the Metaverse, but now is as good of a time as any. Cognition controls how the Metaverse and the Shadows within it act, so as long as our opponents see it as real, the gun will fire.”

“What are you getting at?” Akira’s eyes were mixed with curiosity and irritation, the latter emotion Sumire assumed was because of the roundabout way Morgana was giving his explanation.

“What I’m saying is that the stronger looking our weapons are, the more effective in battle they will be,” Morgana replied, and Sumire’s eyes widened.

“So we don’t need to even find real guns, only realistic looking ones?” 

“Correct!” Morgana chirped happily.

“But where could we find a place like that? I can convince Takemi to supply us with medicine, but I don’t know where we can find fake guns…”

“I can probably help with that, man.” 

Sumire’s and Akira’s heads shot towards the roof door as it swung closed and saw the two blondes from the day prior walking towards them, Sakamato and Takamaki, Sumire had learned afterwards.

“What are you two doing here?” Akira’s eyes matched the coldness in his voice as Sumire caught him glaring at the two approaching blondes.

“If you’re doing something to Kamoshida, let us join!” Takamaki exclaimed, ignoring Akira’s question as the two stopped a few steps shy of the table.

“Yeah, let us in on helping you guys take him down!” Sakamato joined in, leaning towards Akira with his hands still in his pockets.

“No,” was all Akira said before turning back towards the table, resting his head in his hands as the two blondes stared blankly at him.

“What?! Why not?” Takamaki nearly shouted at Akira who closed his eyes, and Sumire began to feel sorry for the two blondes. They just wanted to help, but she also understood Akira enough at this point to know that he wouldn’t be convinced easily.

“The answer is no.” 

“C’mon dude, my expulsion’s on the line as well! Let me at least fight with you guys!”

Sumire noticed Akira’s right hand twitch slightly under his chin along with the fact that his jaw seemed extremely tense; he was clearly reaching the limit of his patience.

“Senpai,” Sumire found herself saying, and Akira opened his eyes and looked over at her nearly instantly. “Can’t we give them a chance? It sounds like they’ve been through a lot with Kamoshida, so I think it would be fair to allow them to come with us.”

“Seriously…” Sumire barely heard Akira mutter as he let out a sigh.

“We’ll just go in whether you agree or not, so wouldn’t it be better for us to work together?” Takamaki asked, but Akira didn’t look back at her as he turned back at the table.

“Hey Akira, maybe we could use them.” Sumire and Akira looked over towards Morgana, who continued on before either of them could interject. “You don’t have to work with them if you don’t want to, but having more people help in infiltration would make things infinitely easier.”

“Yeah, what the cat said!” Sakamoto’s voice was still well above normal talking level, and Sumire found herself becoming slightly irritated as Akira winced.

“I am NOT a cat, blondie!”

“And my name is Ryuji Sakamoto! Get it right!” 

Somehow, in the span of not even two seconds, Sakamoto and Morgana were at each other’s throats, with the blond crouching into a fighting position while Morgana slid his front paws forward.

“God, shut it you two!” Sumire jumped as Akira’s voice roared over the rooftop, being followed only by silence, before she saw him flip over towards Sakamoto and Takamaki. “If it’ll get you two to stop bothering me about it, you can come with, but stay out of my and Sumire’s way. I won’t be responsible for you two in the Metaverse, so don’t bother asking any useless questions. Are we clear?”

Akira stood in front of the two blondes, his eyes barely visible to Sumire from where she was sitting but she could still see the pent up irritation and frustration in his eyes. Seeing him like this was awful for Sumire, but she couldn’t do anything as the two taken-aback blondes nodded slowly.

“Morgana, tell them everything you told us. I have to go to the clinic now, so I’ll let you into Leblanc just like last night,” Akira said, his voice still sharp with annoyance as he began walking towards the roof door. Before either of the blondes or Morgana could call out to him, Sumire burst from her seat, grabbing Akira’s bag as she ran to catch up with him.

“Senpai, let’s walk together!” Despite her own irritation and tension in her body, Sumire held a bright smile as she stared up at Akira’s darkened face and held out his bag. ‘It must have been a tough decision, so I’ll just have to cheer him up the best I can.’

“Alright,” Akira responded, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his left shoulder and, even though he was clearly in a bad mood, Sumire saw his face soften ever so slightly as they descended the stairs. Her body loosened with every step she took next to Akira as they made their way down towards the exit to the school, her brief but still vivid outburst earlier fading into the back of her mind.

“Sumire, how are you doing?” Akira’s voice reached Sumire’s ears as the two stepped outside and the cold breeze hit Sumire’s face once again.

“O-oh, I’m good!” Sumire jumped slightly as she turned towards Akira.

“Good,” was all Akira said as he turned to the left with Sumire making sure to keep pace with him as they walked down the adjacent street and towards the station, silence falling between the two. Sumire snuck a few glances over towards Akira, whose eyes remained forward as they walked, and scanned them over his body. He appeared to be fine; the only way anyone would know he was injured was to see the bandages covering his body.

“What is it, Sumire?” Akira asked, his head still facing forward as the two entered the subway.

“O-oh!” Again, Sumire jumped as she was pulled from her thoughts, her eyes darting back up to Akira’s face. “I-I was just wondering how y-you were feeling...” Sumire said.

“I’m fine.” Sumire narrowed her eyes at Akira as they stopped at the train platform; she wasn’t satisfied by that answer at all. While he did seem to be generally alright, she looked back down at his right arm and saw the swelling around the center of his forearm. ‘He’s still in pain.’

As Sumire was going to continue confronting Akira, the train rushed to the platform with the crowd around them bustling onto it as the doors opened. Somehow, Sumire found herself being pushed along with the crowd onto the train, losing sight of Akira as she found her footing within the train.

“Senpai!” Without thinking, Sumire shouted out for the black haired teen, but he was nowhere to be seen. An icy pit fell in Sumire’s stomach as she felt a wave of uncertainty. ‘What happened to Senpai? Is he alright? I should text him, but what if it’s nothing?’ Pulling out her phone, Sumire didn’t notice how much her hands were shaking as the uncertainty took further root throughout her body. ‘Senpai is probably happy that he’s alone now…’

However, before the uncertainty taking hold of Sumire’s body could turn to dread, her phone in her hand vibrated, and, after a deep breath, Sumire saw that it was a text from Akira.

_ Are you okay? We got separated by that crowd. _

‘Of course he would be concerned about me… How stupid am I to keep trying to convince myself otherwise?’ Sumire shook her head, taking another deep breath as she typed out her response.

_ I’m alright, Senpai, but are you still on the platform? _

_ I am. Someone shoved me to the ground and the train closed before I got up. _

‘Someone pushed Senpai!?’ Sumire found her grip on her phone tightening as her chest began heating up. The image of Akira laying on the ground, the still fresh wounds on his body opened and blood rushing out, flickered through Sumire’s mind, but her mind jolted back to reality as she nearly fell into the person in front of her as the train slowed to a stop. 

_ Are you okay Senpai? _

_ What do you mean? _

Sumire made herself split her attention as she rushed off the train; she still had gymnastics today and she couldn’t be late, but she also wanted to confirm that Akira was okay.

_ Did you hurt yourself again as you fell? _

_ Hurt like hell, but nothing feels out of the ordinary. I guess I’ll see how it is at the clinic. _

Dodging a large crowd of adults in business attire, Sumire sighed at her phone. ‘Why won’t he be more worried about his own health?’ However, Sumire didn’t have any more time to think about Akira as she was cutting it close, and forced her phone back into her pocket as she rushed to her gymnastics practice.

Sumire let out a deep sigh before plopping onto her bed, her still wet hair sprawled out above her. ‘I couldn’t concentrate at all today, my routines were terrible… I thought I was turning things around with Senpai by my side, but now I’m just moving backwards!’ Sumire’s chest tightened as she wanted to let out a frustrated scream, but forced it back down her throat as she closed her eyes.

_ “Sumire, you’re way too rigid!” _

_ “Sumire, if you can’t stick the landing, then you’ll have to take it out of your routine!” _

_ “Sumire, please pay more attention!” _

“I’m doing my best!” Sumire whisper-yelled at the image of Hiraguchi in her mind, not wanting to bother her parents downstairs as she was on the verge of tears. “Why can’t she see that I’m doing all I can, but it’s still not enough?!”

Her eyes began watering as she stared up at the ceiling, but Sumire made no attempt to wipe the forming tears away. ‘Kasumi wouldn’t be struggling this much… Neither would Senpai… Am I really that much of a failure?’

Sumire brought her legs up and hugged them against her chest as she rolled to her side, silently sniffling as her tears began rolling down her face. Was there really nothing she could do? Was she forever stuck to be mediocre at best for the rest of her life?

“I… I can’t even… be useful… to Akira-senpai…” Sumire said through her sniffling. “I… I…” She was trapped, trapped by her own mind, trapped by the constant reminder of how much better Kasumi was than her.

“Huh?” Over Sumire’s crying, a loud buzzing came from her right and she slowly unballed and inched towards the head of her bed. Reaching out, she wrapped her hand around her phone and brought it up to her face, and instantly let out a gasp. “Senpai?”   
_ Thought I would give you an update: I’m rebandaged, and Takemi said that my body had healed considerably since yesterday. Maybe it had something to do with the Metaverse, but I’m not sure. _

Even though the text was simply an update, Sumire couldn’t prevent her tears from flowing faster, but this time out of relief. She didn’t know why; it was one text, but the fact that Akira had thought about letting her know his state of being made her unbelievably happy, able to push her doubts to the back of her mind. “He… he cares…”

The tightness in her chest dissipated as Sumire took calmer breaths, her vision clearing despite the tears still pricking her eyes, and she rolled onto her back once again. Sumire let her phone rest on her chest, hugging it somewhat as her eyes fluttered closed. “I don’t understand… this feeling in my chest…” Sumire breathed out; just a moment prior she felt like all the air inside her was being squeezed out, but now… now her chest felt warm. “But… at the same time… I don’t care… Senpai cares about me enough to tell me how he’s doing, which is more than enough for me…”

As she found herself drifting off to a surprisingly blissful sleep, vibrations were sent throughout her chest and her eyes shot open once again. “Ah!” Sumire yelped, bringing her phone up to see another text from Akira.

_ Are you okay, Sumire? _

‘Does… does he know?’ Sumire froze, a mixture of confusion and happiness fighting inside her mind. Was it even possible for him to know what she was going through? However, she didn’t want to make any assumptions as her thumbs worked out a response.

_ I’m alright, Senpai! I appreciate your concern! _

_ Alright. You seemed to be in a rough spot earlier today. _

“Oh right,” Sumire muttered; she had somehow completely forgotten about her outburst at school. She shut her eyes and took another breath in, trying to fight off the creeping feeling of dread encroaching on her, but took a sharp breath in as her eyes flung back open. “Wait, but Senpai brought it up…”

The internal conflict raging within Sumire calmed as she stared at the ceiling of her room, and a miniscule smile formed on her lips. ‘I should stop doubting him, because this proves that he does truly care for me.’ Sumire, with her smile intact, looked back at her phone.

_ I really am grateful for you, Senpai. _

_ Hm? _

“Crap…” Sumire sighed. Her thumbs were moving on their own, so she didn’t realize what she typed until Akira’s response came through and she began to feel heat come to her cheeks. “What do I do now? I guess I should tell the truth…”

_ I really was in a rough position earlier today, and you really helped me get out of it. How could I not be grateful towards you? _

_ It’s nothing to be grateful about. _

Sumire frowned at her phone; that wasn’t the response she was expecting. 

_ What are you saying? You helped me a lot, so of course I should be grateful for you! _

_ Well, that’s your choice. I’m going to head to bed. _

_ Night. _

Sumire blinked slowly at her phone, unsure what to do. ‘Why is Senpai acting like he didn’t do anything? He clearly wasn’t trying to be rude, so why say I shouldn’t be grateful for him?’ 

As Sumire continued thinking, a yawn escaped and she felt exhaustion wash over her. ‘Maybe I’ll ask him about it tomorrow…’ Sumire rubbed her eyes as she plugged her phone in and set it next to her on her bed as she laid down, not before sending out one final text.

_ Goodnight, Senpai. _

“Senpai!”

Sumire rushed towards the familiar figure sitting at the table closest to the cafe door. When she asked her parents to go out to eat, she hadn’t expected them to let her go out on her own, and now another surprise was waiting just ahead of her.

“Hey Sumire,” Akira responded nonchalantly, taking a sip of coffee afterwards.

“What a nice surprise to see you here, Senpai!” Sumire plopped down just opposite of Akira, unable to conceal the smile covering her face

“You’re awfully preppy today, what’s up?” Akira asked between bites of a cheap looking steak. Sumire’s eyes narrowed as she was hoping that Akira would respond in kind, but she took in a breath to steady herself mentally.

“I’m just feeling… happy today, I guess,” Sumire responded, feeling strong going before stopping. Of course she couldn’t tell him that the actual reason she was so happy was because of his texts last night, and even thinking about it threatened a blush onto her cheeks. Sumire shook off the blush just as the waitress approached the table and she ordered herself a Frui-tea and two steaks, taking a peek back up to see Akira’s gaze down at the table. The look in his eyes was different from normal, Sumire noticed; instead of being somehow dull and sharp at the same time, the grey orbs were completely glazed over. ‘He must be thinking of something,’ Sumire thought, remembering how Akira was during the small meeting with Morgana yesterday.

“I’m assuming that means whatever was bothering you yesterday is gone?” 

Sumire’s head shot back up fully towards Akira to see him looking at her, the normal look back in his eyes. “O-oh, y-yeah!” Sumire was caught off guard by the sudden shift in Akira, his eyes going from completely unfocused to their normal state in one moment.

“Good.” Akira nodded, taking another bite of his bread. Sumire kept her hesitant gaze on Akira as the waitress returned with her drink and food in a suspiciously short amount of time, but she hardly cared as her stomach rumbled and she dug in. As expected, the steak wasn’t bad by any means, but it was nothing compared to anything Sumire couldn’t make at home.

‘I just needed to get out today…’ Sumire thought, her eyes wandering back up towards Akira’s face to see him frowning at his coffee.

“Senpai, are you okay?”

Sumire jumped slightly as Akira’s eyes shot back up to her, but forced herself to stay calm as there weren't any signs of aggression or even irritation in the grey orbs.

“Yeah,” Akira replied, reaching for and taking a sip of the awful looking energy drink in front of him. Sumire remembered trying one before a year prior and nearly retching just from the smell, but Akira didn’t even wince as he set the can back down onto the table. “Why?”

“I...I just noticed that you seemed a bit…” Sumire trailed off. Even though Akira’s gaze was even behind his glasses, she felt her nerves worsening with every word she spoke, and she let her eyes fall to the table. She didn’t want to have another incident like a few days prior and accidentally upset Akira, but his behavior since agreeing to have the two blondes join has been concerning.

Akira let out a sigh, bringing Sumire’s gaze back up to him just as he finished off his piece of bread. “I’m the same as usual. Anyways, I gotta go soon and meet up with that blond. Apparently he found a place for model guns, so I told him to meet me at Central Square soon.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Sumire asked as Akira began to stand, placing her hands on the table to push herself up.

“No, you still need to eat,” Akira responded, straightening his back as he began to turn away, but he stopped and looked back at Sumire before she could protest any further. “It’s probably unlikely, but could you try and get practice off tomorrow? I would like to explore the palace as soon as possible before the deadline.”

“I-I can try, but I doubt coach will let me, and I don’t have practice today. I guess I could try and get my parents to talk to her...” Sumire plopped back into her seat, knowing full well that Akira was right and that she still needed to eat, and she felt a small amount of guilt bud within her chest. ‘I don’t want to hold Senpai back, but I also don’t want to upset coach any further… What should I do?’ 

“Don’t worry about it if you can’t,” Akira’s voice cut through Sumire’s doubts as she looked back up at him, his eyes softened as he stared down at her. “We’ll just have to go in on your days off.”

“You could always go in without m–”

“No,” Akira cut Sumire off, an almost incredulous look on his face as he continued staring down at her. “That’s not an option, so let me know what your coach says. See you.” Before Sumire could even break out of her shock to respond, Akira was already walking towards the exit of the cafe, leaving Sumire alone to finish her lunch.

‘He does look better than yesterday,’ Sumire thought as she began to dig into her lunch in earnest, letting her mind wander freely. ‘His right arm is still swollen, but Senpai is moving around a lot better. I just hope that nothing like that happens again…’

Sumire stopped, her fork holding a piece of cheap steak in front of her mouth. It was clear in her mind’s eye; Akira with whatever that black armor was cutting and ripping through Shadows with the giant black greatsword. ‘Wait, does his injuries have something to do with that armor?’

**_... thus your body rejects me eagerly without realizing it is only causing itself pain._ **

The strange voice’s warning echoed within Sumire’s mind as she idly bit the food still waiting in front of her mouth. ‘He’s… he hurt himself.’ That was the only explanation Sumire had for what the voice meant, and almost instinctively, Sumire moved her right hand over to her left arm as she set down her fork and set it atop her forearm.

She shook her head violently, forcing her mind away from those thoughts. ‘I’m alright now that I have Senpai by my side. But… but that is concerning if what I think that means is true.’

A shiver was sent throughout Sumire’s body as she ate the final bite of her meal. Was the armor that covered Akira’s body the thing that caused all those stab wounds? Nothing else in the Palace came close to him before then, so Sumire couldn’t think of any other reason for why his body could be like that. ‘The only injury that seemed to be caused by the enemies were the burns on his upper back when those Shadows… Pixies, I think? When they shot those lightning bolts at Senpai…’

Sumire let out a sigh as she looked down at her phone, noticing that it was nearing five pm, and, with one final look at her arms being covered by her black undershirt, shook her head and stood up.

‘I should just go back home…’ Sumire thought as she left the cafe, dreading the talk with her coach.

Sumire felt energetic as she exited her classroom, school ending for the day, and she pulled out her phone and found her and Akira’s messaging chat.

_ Senpai, we can go in today! _

The conversation with Hiraguchi went a lot better than Sumire was expecting, with her coach actually coming to her home after Sumire’s father called her.

_ “This may seem counterproductive, but I’m going to move your day off from today to Monday and add another one on Friday.” _

_ “Coach?!” Sumire couldn’t stop herself from shouting; not only did her coach give her Friday off last week, but now she’s making a change to Sumire’s schedule to free up time? _

_ “You clearly can’t focus during practice due to some reason I’m sure you don’t want to discuss at the moment, and I doubt that practicing more will really help. However, I cannot just allow you to have two days off in a row, so if we want to change your practice schedule, you’ll have to practice today.” _

_ “U-understood!” _

Sumire smiled as she climbed up the stairs towards the rooftop, an extra spring in her step as she waited for Akira to respond with ‘...’ at the bottom left of her screen.

_ I take it that the talk went well? _

_ Yep! I now have today, Wednesdays, and Fridays off! _

_ That’s generous. I’m on the roof. _

Sumire’s eyes narrowed at her phone; she was hoping for Akira to be slightly more excited than that. She shook her head as she approached the roof door, pushing the quickly forming doubts of Akira’s mental state out of her mind as she opened the door.

“Ah, there you are,” Akira’s voice called out immediately as Sumire stepped onto the roof, and after a brief moment of her eyes adjusting to the sun, she saw Akira sitting at the table with Morgana sitting on top of it.

“How are you today, Senpai?” Sumire asked as she walked calmly towards the table, trying her best to ignore the dryness in his voice.

“The usual,” Akira responded, moving his attention back to the table as his hands began tinkering with something, and it wasn’t until she set down her own bag on the table that Sumire noticed the metal and yarn sitting in front of Akira along with what appeared to be a makeshift key to the side.

“What’s that, Senpai?”

“It’s a lockpick!” Morgana stated loudly, shaking the table slightly as he got onto all fours. “It’ll be useful for our infiltration along with the medicine Akira bought yesterday!”

“Watch it, cat.” Akira didn’t look up from the table as he spoke, his eyes cold and sharp with focus as he worked.

“I am not a ca–” Morgana began, but stopped as Sumire saw Akira’s eyes shoot up towards the cat. An uneasy air fell between the three as Sumire saw Morgana shrink backwards and sat down onto the table, his gaze slowly falling downwards.

“So…” Sumire found herself saying in an attempt to shift the conversation. “Are we going in soon?”

Akira let out a sigh as he placed the lockpick onto the table and leaned back into his seat. “Yeah, let’s go.” Without giving Sumire time to process what he said, Akira placed everything on the table into his bag, including Morgana with a startled meow from the cat, before walking towards the rooftop door.

“Senpai, what about Takamaki and Sakamoto?” Sumire called out, her legs moving on their own as she chased after and caught up with Akira as he opened the door.

“I told the girl that we’re going in today, and they knew where to find us, so it's on them if they don’t come with us,” Akira replied hastily as they walked down the school stairs.

‘Is he in a bad mood?’ Sumire glanced over towards Akira as they approached the front doors of the school; his face was hard to read, barely any emotion emanating from his eyes as he kept them forward. ‘He’s probably stressed and feeling anxious…’

“Yo! Why didn’t you wait for us?!”

Sumire jolted upright just as her and Akira reached their spot in the alleyway and Akira pulled out his phone, two sets of footsteps rushing towards them from behind. However, she heard a sigh escape from Akira next to her as he slowly turned around, calming her nerves quickly as she followed his lead to see the two blondes coming to a stop directly in front of Akira.

“I told you that we would be going in today after school, and you should have known that we meet on the rooftop after school,” Akira answered, his voice cold as he looked back down at his phone.

“Yeah, but I didn’t know we would be going in so soo–” Takamaki began, her voice raised as she took a step towards Akira.

In an instant, Akira’s eyes flew back up towards the two blondes, mainly at Takamaki, and Sumire felt a shiver down her spine as she looked at Akira’s face. A mixture of irritation, anger, and disdain was swirling within his grey orbs, but quickly faded as she saw him close his eyes and take a shallow breath.

“Whatever, I’m going in now,” Akira finally said after a few moments of unbearable silence and, before Sumire could fully brace herself, a rush of nausea hit her as the entire world began spinning. Sumire knew what was happening as the world began to spin and shift around her and thought she would have gotten used to it, but luckily the feeling passed as soon as it came as she steadied herself.

“Dude… couldn’t you have given us more time to prepare?” Sakamoto asked, his hand to his head as Sumire looked over at him in his thuggish looking outfit. She felt a small amount of pity for him, but that feeling couldn’t deepen as Akira passed in front of her, his black tailcoat flowing behind him as he walked towards the palace.

“Violet, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, another chapter for you! Focus more on Sumire here, and I hope I did her justice along with the issues she's dealing with. Huge thanks to DoqWithAQ for beta reading this chapter, and I would love to hear your guy's opinions on this chapter!


	10. Venture into the Palace of Lust(Part One)

“Senpai! Senpai, wake up!”

Violet stood in front of Joker, staring directly into his blank eyes as he faced towards a pile of wood and scrap. She wasn’t sure what had happened; one moment Joker was striding towards the palace with Violet and the others close behind, the next he turned and stood perfectly still. 

“What do you think he’s doing?” Sakamoto asked behind Sumire.

‘Is he okay? What should I do if he’s not okay? Should we leave?’

As she stared at Joker, Violet began feeling uneasy and shifted nervously in front of him. She had seen Joker space out before during lunch or on the roof, but never like this. His pupils were either so small she couldn’t see them or completely gone, neither option setting Violet at ease.

“This was pretty sudden, so I hope he breaks out pretty soon.” Violet heard Mona behind her, his high pitched voice not helping her nerves as her right hand moved on its own towards Joker’s shoulder. She pushed as softly as she could into the solid shoulder, but no response came from the teen in front of her, so Violet pushed slightly harder. Still nothing. Violet’s arm fell to her side and she felt her throat begin to constrict. ‘I’m so stupid... What if he’s in trouble right now and I can’t even do anything to help him?’

“Senpai… Please wake up, Senpai…” Violet pleaded softly, lowering her head in defeat as she clenched her fists. “How useless am I…?”

“Violet?”

Violet’s head shot up to see the light back in Joker’s eyes, confusion on his face as it was tilted slightly to the side. “You’re back!” Violet couldn’t prevent herself from stepping closer towards Joker, peering from her own mask into his grey eyes behind his. 

“Violet, move back,” Joker asked calmly, and Violet realized what exactly she was doing as she was so close to Joker that his breath was hitting her face.

“A-Ah! I-I’m sorry, Senpai!” Jumping backwards, Violet tried in vain to conceal her reddening cheeks, hyper aware of her heart rate as she began fidgeting with her hands in front of her.

Joker simply nodded and Violet heard the swoosh of his tailcoat in front of her, just barely catching him turn around fully before walking towards the entrance of the Palace. “Let’s go.”

“Wait, Joker!” Before Violet could fully calm herself down, she saw Mona shoot forward after Joker with the teen stopping a few steps in front of the air vent.

“What?” Violet could hear the sudden sharpness in Joker’s voice, her embarrassment fading into anxiety; even though she wasn’t on the other side of Joker’s irritation, she still felt nervous being around him when he got like that.

“Don’t you think we should give those two their codenames? Also, what were you doing just now?” Violet narrowed her eyes at the cat in front of Joker; he almost seemed immune to the annoyance in Joker’s voice. It was barely noticeable, but Violet saw Joker’s shoulders rise and fall as his hands snaked into his pockets.

“Skull and Red. What I was doing doesn’t matter.”

“What?” Both of the blondes uttered in unison from Violet’s left. Joker looked over his shoulder towards the two, and Violet clearly saw the irritation written across his face.

“Skull and Red; those are your code names. Violet!” Before she could respond, Joker had turned around and began his stride once again. Violet hesitated for a second, looking from Joker to the other three before beginning to follow after Joker.

“Wait, codenames?! Am I really going to be called that?!” Takamaki shouted towards Joker’s back, and Violet felt a pit form in her gut as she saw Joker’s shoulder’s tense as he stopped.

“If you two don’t like it, figure it out yourself.” With one final sigh, Joker hastily walked towards the air vent. Violet began after him again, but the two blondes to her left caught her attention as they turned towards Mona.

“I’m fine with Skull, it sounds pretty badass!” Sakamoto announced, flexing his right bicep in front of him with a huge grin on his face.

“I’m so not down with just being called “Red”. It makes me sound like a children’s book character!” Takamaki shook her head before bringing her left hand up to her chin.

“Well, what do you wanna be called, then?” Sakamoto asked. Violet began feeling restless, and she looked over to where Joker was heading to find him nowhere to be seen. 

‘He’s probably wondering where we are…’

“Maybe… Panther? That sounds cool, right?” Takamaki looked between Sakamoto and Mona, attempting to get any confirmation out of them, but Violet saw the two stare blankly back at the girl.

“Huh? Why?” Sakamoto asked plainly.

“‘Cause it sounds more… ferocious?” Takamaki’s arms fell to her side, and Violet’s restlessness grew even more. ‘Senpai has been waiting for a while, so I should go.’ The thought that Joker would rather be alone going through the palace threatened Violet’s mind as she began walking towards the air vent, but she shook it aside, remembering how quickly he shot down her suggestion of going in without her. 

‘Wait, what does that mean?’ Violet’s mind sped up as she easily climbed up the boxes to the vent, barely hearing the chatter of the two blondes and Mona behind her growing closer but not processing the words. ‘Does that mean he…?’ Violet couldn’t finish the thought as a rush of warmth spread throughout her face and her body froze, slowly tilting forward into the storage room below.

“Took you long enough…” Violet snapped to attention just as she was about to fall forward with Joker’s curt voice ripping her from her clouded mind. She saw Joker standing towards the side of the room leaning against a crate with his eyes directed at her, and Violet blinked twice before realizing she was still crouching in the air vent and jumped down into the room.

“S-Sorry, Joker-senpai…” Violet managed to get out, trying to get her heart rate to slow down from just the one thought. ‘Why am I so nervous all of a sudden?’

“Let’s just go,” said Joker, pushing himself off of the crate and smoothly striding towards the door before stopping as he gripped the doorknob.

“Hey, don’t leave us behind like that!” Sakamoto’s voice rang out throughout the small room, and Violet didn’t need to turn around as she heard three thuds behind her, one of them quieter than the others.

“Did you figure out your codenames?” Joker slowly turned the doorknob and the door creaked open as he pushed on it with his body.

“I’m down with Skull, man!” 

“And I chose Panther for myself!” 

Joker scoffed in response to the two blondes and their loud exclamation before slipping into the hallway. Violet looked between the doorway and the two blondes, seeing their excitement get crushed by Joker’s indifference in a matter of seconds, and she approached them.

“It’s alright, Joker-senpai is like that with people he just met,” Violet said, but noticed the defeated looks in their eyes mixed with confusion.

“I noticed…” Skull rubbed the back of his neck. Violet turned towards the open door and slipped quickly through it, feeling the awkwardness growing in the room and wanted to be near Joker, who was waiting near the next door at the end of the hall.

“There’s no Shadows in the next room, but we need to be careful from now on,” Joker quickly said as Violet crouched next to him, hearing the other three follow behind her. “Whenever we fight any Shadows, defeating them as quickly as possible should be our priority.

“Why?” Skull asked behind Violet, his voice well above a whisper. Joker’s face hardened as he looked past Violet, but even as she knew it wasn’t directed at her, Violet still felt a chill run down her spine.

“I’ve got this one, Joker,” Mona whispered, and Violet kept her ears open while staring ahead. “We’ve already infiltrated this place three times and escaped successfully all three times; there’s no way this place isn’t on high alert right now, and Kamoshida is going to make sure his Shadows are in top shape.”Violet saw Mona scuttle around her and right underneath Joker, peering through the cracked open door and into the reportedly empty room. 

“But shouldn’t our Persona things be able to beat them?” Skull continued on, and Violet already knew the answer, but she waited for either Joker or Mona to respond.

Mona looked back towards Skull. “If we go in without a plan, we’ll be outnumbered, just like last time. And I doubt we’ll be able to escape a hoard of Shadows like that again unless Joker uses that strange power.” 

Violet’s eyes shot back towards Joker continuing to peer into the room, and saw his eyes dart towards her for a brief moment. His eyes softened and Joker nodded towards her, but just as quickly as the moment happened, it faded as Joker turned back towards the room and creaked the door wide open. “Violet, you stay and fight with me. Mona, stay back and watch for any reinforcements. You two,” Joker turned towards the two blondes, Violet catching the cold glare written across his face. “Don’t get in our way.”

Joker’s orders set Violet on high alert, feeling Cendrillon in the forefront of her mind as she dashed after Joker as he entered and crossed the small room. She clearly remembered what Joker went through the last time they went into the palace, the state he ended up in after fighting off the horde of Shadows. ‘I can’t let that happen again,’ Violet thought, forcing her vision and hearing to sharpen as Joker opened the next door slowly and snuck into the longer hallway.

“Still blocked, huh?” Violet heard Joker whisper to himself as they passed by the iron bars to their left, the suits of armor lined up along the hallway looking menacing as last time. However, before Violet could respond, Joker continued forward, reaching the end of the hallway in just a few seconds.

Reaching up towards her cheek, she could still feel the searing pain of the flames that previously sent her flying backwards and cautiously eyed the newly installed door. “Senpai, can we be a little careful here?” She whispered, crouching next to Joker to the side of the door as his hand snaked towards the handle.

“Stay here, and only enter the room when I whistle.” Joker didn’t turn around, but Violet knew that he was talking directly to her. She wanted him to confirm that he would be safe, but Violet knew that Joker was focused. 

“Skull, just do what Joker says!” Mona whisper-shouted behind Violet, who turned just in time to see the blond boy standing straight up and beginning to take a step forward, but Mona in front of him stopped him before he reached the door.

“Why can’t we just burst through here and take out any enemies we see?” Skull made a pitiful attempt at whispering, and Violet could feel Joker tense up beside her.

“You really are a moron… Did you not listen to what I said earlier?” 

“Don’t call me a moron, cat! And yeah, of course I heard you earlier!”

“I am NOT a cat! How many times do I need to tell you that?”

“Well, you sure look like one!”

Suddenly, a whistle broke Violet’s concentration on the argument playing out in front of her, and she spun around to see that Joker was no longer right next to her and the door was ajar. Her eyes sharpened as she blocked out the argument behind her and, flexing her legs, Violet kicked off the ground and sped through the small opening between the door and the frame.

“Joker-senpai!” Violet immediately locked onto Joker as he flew through the air, landing on a wooden table at the center of three stone pillars with his knife in his right hand. Not too far away, a maskless Shadow was writhing on the ground, a pool of black liquid growing underneath it, but Violet saw two other Shadows on either side of the pillar, two gun wounds in each of their shoulders as they stared down Joker.

“Violet, handle this one while I keep those two occupied! Make sure they don’t call for backup!” Joker called out, and Violet sped into action as he jumped off the table towards the two Shadows. She didn’t have time to feel anxious or scared or apprehensive; Joker was relying on her, and that fact alone helped her calm down as she reached up for her mask.

“Cendrillon!” In a flash of blue flames, Violet’s Persona flew out in front of her, its legs being surrounded by a strange energy as the pool underneath the previously maskless Shadow burst and one of the green horned beasts formed. Violet willed her rapier into her left hand, her fingers wrapping around the cool handle just as Cendrillon reached the dazed Shadow, her energized legs cutting into the Shadow. Two gashes were made from where Cendrillon attacked, but the wound wasn’t deep enough to cause major damage as it stopped itself from sliding backwards. ‘I guess Mona was right about them becoming stronger…’ 

“Return!” To her left, Violet saw Joker’s mask reform just as a bolt of lightning crashed into one of the pillars, sending chunks of stone to the ground as Violet’s ears rang. The sudden distraction along with the crack of lightning gave the beast Shadow Violet was facing enough time to slam into Cendrillon’s abdomen, sending the Persona back slightly. 

However, Violet doubled over slightly as if she was also hit, but quickly straightened as she saw the Shadow attempt to skewer Cendrillon. The Persona dodged backwards, floating in front of Violet as she took a deep breath. ‘Right, Senpai reacted to Arsene getting hurt earlier as well, so of course I would as well. How stupid am I?’ 

Violet’s eyes widened as she stared at the ground. Loud noises boomed and echoed all around her as she knew that Joker was still fighting, but the world felt like it was slowing down. ‘I can’t think like that, not in here. Senpai said he needed me, and what do I do?’ The grip around her rapier tightened as Violet grit her teeth and forced herself to straighten up. ‘I may be useless most of the time, unable to do anything right, but…’

“Cendrillon, Kouha!” The command was ripped from Violet’s throat as she locked onto the charging beast once again, its hateful eyes solely on her as its green horns flashed in the torchlight. Sharp pain surged in Violet’s mind as light began building within Cednrillion’s hands, but she held her focus as the Persona dashed forward, a burst of air threatening to knock over the nearest table. 

A loud slam echoed throughout the large room accompanied with a flash of pure white light as Violet willed everything she had into Cendrillon, the Persona shoving the ball of light into the Shadow’s abdomen as Cendrillion skirted to the left of the green horns. A pained shriek erupted from the beastly Shadow as the ball of light bore into its flesh,, and Violet was quickly left staring at her own Persona as the Shadow turned into dust.

“Everything’s all taken care of,” Joker’s voice caused Violet to spin to her left, causing her pounding headache to worsen as her hands shot up to her head. 

“Daaaamn, you guys finished those guys in no time flat!” Skull shouted as the door Joker and Violet entered fully opened, but Violet cringed as she grit her teeth even more as she looked up towards Joker.

“What’s up?” Joker asked, stopping just shy of Violet with his hands in his pockets. Violet’s mask flashed back onto her face as she stared at Joker, his face shaky due to the sudden and intense headache, and she tried to open her mouth to speak.

“N-nothing…” Violet uttered, shocked at how frail her voice sounded. She didn’t have time to think as Joker’s eyes behind his mask narrowed, and she could even feel the other three gazes from the others.

“Alright, let’s go,” Joker said, turning on his heels in an instant and began striding towards the door at the opposite side of the room. Violet’s heart dropped somewhat as she stared at the back of Joker walking away from her, wishing that he would’ve shown slightly more concern for her, but she simply shook her aching head as she followed after Joker and Mona right beside him. Violet noticed Mona’s scimitar shimmering out of existence as he waddled next to Joker, and she began to piece together what happened on the other side of the room. ‘So Mona jumped in and helped Senpai with those two, but I was struggling against that one Shadow…’

“Joker, there’s a safe room right there!” Mona’s shouting brought Violet from her thoughts, seeing the cat pointing enthusiastically in front of the group towards a normal looking door. However, as Violet’s eyes lingered on the door, she noticed it shifted and swayed, almost like it was encased in some sort of liquid.

“A safe room?” Joker asked, striding towards the shifting door with Mona right on his heels.

“This is our first one, so I’ll explain once we’re inside. Let’s go!” Before anyone could respond, Mona jumped up and pulled open the door’s handle in one motion. 

Violet’s head was still throbbing as she followed Joker through the door, the two blondes behind her being suspiciously quiet. ‘Is it because they’re afraid of Senpai?’ Violet thought, splitting her attention as she took in the fairly luxurious room around her. It was decorated like the previous smaller room of the castle, but the main difference was the two tables set against each other with five chairs put around them. 

“This is what I like to call a safe room!” Mona announced, confidently bouncing into the room and onto the chair at the head of the two tables. “Basically, a gap in a palace ruler’s cognition!”

“I… I don’t get it…” Panther muttered beside Violet, and the redhead could see both blondes rubbing the back of their heads out of the corner of her eyes. Truthfully, Violet didn’t quite understand it either, but she didn’t want to show her own stupidity as she saw Joker nod slowly at Mona.

“Wait dude, you understand what he’s saying?” Skull nearly shouted, only reminding Violet of her headache as another rush of pain shot through her head.

Joker walked forward and, in one motion, drew back the seat to the right of where Mona was standing and sat down with a less than enthused look on his face. “It’s simple.”

“How the hell is any of this simple? You were just as shocked as I was when we first came here, man!” Violet’s hand shot up to her head as Skull continued shouting at Joker, each word coming from the blond feeling like a knife to her brain.

“You can go if this is too complicated for you,” Joker responded calmly, but Violet detected the underlying irritation mixed with snark in his voice despite the mental pain she was in. 

‘I can’t slow Senpai down,’ was the only thing running through Violet’s head, fighting through the pain as she tried to look back up. However, as she did so, a startled cry escaped her mouth as Joker was in front of her, albeit a few steps away.

“Violet, are you sick?” Joker asked. 

“U-umm…” Violet wasn’t sure how to answer; the sudden attention back on her was making her feel awkward, with Joker’s gaze directed solely on her becoming the only thing she could think about.

“If you’re sick, we should leave. It’s risky to go through the palace if you’re not well.” Violet blinked at Joker in disbelief. He had already said that he wouldn’t go through the palace without her, but Violet couldn’t believe that he actually meant it and would push back exploring the palace.

“Senpai, I-I’m fine, I just h-have a headache,” Violet finally answered, internally sighing from the shakiness still present in her voice.

However, Joker’s eyes didn’t lose their edge as he continued staring at her, and Violet suddenly envied the two blondes reclining at the tables, Skull with his legs up and Panther resting her head. ‘They didn’t even do anything…’

“Mona,” Joker began, turning away from Violet and towards the cat now standing on the table.

“Huh?” Mona’s giant head perked up towards Joker as he fully turned away from Violet, who subconsciously relaxed her body as he did so.

“I know that using Arsene takes mental energy from experience, but what happens if I use him too much?”

“Well, you tire out, and whenever I use my Persona too much, my head starts pounding with a horrible headache.” 

Violet’s moment out of the spotlight was cut short as Joker turned back towards her, his grey eyes locking onto her face once again as if he was scanning her. “You said that you had a headache Violet?”

“Y-yes.” Violet nodded, feeling her chest tighten as Joker remained unblinking. She trusted him, of course, but this amount of attention for just a headache was making Violet feel self-conscious as she tried to break eye contact. However, as she ripped her eyes from Joker, they instead landed onto Mona as he jumped off the table towards the two.

“I think I know where Joker is going with this. While we were taking care of those two Shadows, I saw you decimate that Shadow in nearly one hit, just like before after Joker went berserk. The amount of power you can use is incredible, but make sure not to overdo it, alright?” Mona asked, giving Violet a wide grin as he stopped beside Joker.

“What does that mean?” Joker looked to his right down at Mona.

“From what I can tell, we’re able to control the intensity of our Persona’s attacks, sort of like being able to control how fast you can run or how hard you hit. However, just like with running, the more energy you put into it, the more it takes out of you, in this case the more mental energy you expend.”

“So that’s why…” Joker’s right hand moved underneath his chin, looking down at the ground in thought. Violet froze in place; of course that would make sense. 

‘It’s just like last time as well against that golden Shadow, and I couldn’t even use Cendrillon afterwards…’ 

She was useless after all. Even when she was just trying to be useful for Joker, she ended up causing more damage to herself than necessary. Before she knew it, Violet’s body was shaking as her hands formed into fists, small sniffles escaping as she held back the tears already threatening to spill out. 

“So… it really is my fault…” Violet managed to get out, shutting her eyes as her mask began catching small tears falling from her eyes. “How… How can I be so useless? Senpai, I–”

Violet looked back up, regret and pain taking over her mind, but stopped as a firm hand fell upon her shoulder. Nearly immediately, heat spread throughout her body as the regret faded somewhat, and Violet’s red eyes stared into Joker’s grey. “Violet, stop.”

“But… but…” 

“There’s no point in apologizing now. You took out that Shadow, just like I asked you to.” Violet’s shaking slowed somewhat as she stared into Joker’s sharp eyes, a small amount of kindness hiding deep within the grey orbs. However, her guilt remained as her eyes shut again.

“But… we still have so much more to go… and now I’m just going to slow you down…”

“There’s more than one way to fight, Violet.” Violet’s eyes shot back open, with Joker still staring directly at her. “Pace yourself, and you’ll be fine.”

“A-alright…” Violet responded weakly, nodding her head as Joker removed his hand from her shoulder. There was nothing she could say to Joker that would shift the conversation, and any way she looked at it he was right. Even then, why did she feel so useless?

“We’ll rest here for five minutes before we keep going.” Joker’s voice became somewhat distant as he turned and walked back towards the table, and Violet couldn’t do anything but oblige and follow as he sat down. As she took her own seat next to Joker, Violet couldn’t stop thinking that she did something wrong, that she screwed up. ‘I mean, it’s me, so of course I did it wrong. I always screw things up…’

The next five minutes Violet spent with her eyes closed, trying to avoid the negative thoughts lingering in her mind as the pain from the headache died down. Nothing was happening around her as Joker remained completely still, the two blondes opposite Violet fidgeting around slightly but remaining quiet. That is, until Violet opened her eyes after what she felt was five minutes, her headache gone for the most part but the mental exhaustion still lingering along with Cendrillon somewhat faded within her mind.

“Hey Mona, I know you explained what those creatures were before… Shadows, right?” Panther began, drawing the attention of everyone but Joker around the table. “But, why do they turn into different monsters? Why do they even transform?”

“It’ll be somewhat complicated, but I’ll answer just for you, Panther,” Mona said, almost a purr in his voice as Violet saw him staring directly at Panther. However, what caught Violet’s eye was Joker shifting in his seat next to her and opening his eyes; he was clearly interested in what Mona was about to say. “Deep in the innermost depths of every human’s heart lies their true Personality – their Shadow. So it’s not that the guards are transforming into those monsters… Those are their actual forms. The reason they look like gods and other mythical beings is because they spawn from the human psyche.”

“Wh-whoa…” Panther breathed out, her mouth wide open with Skull next to her looking just as confused and amazed. “Wait, but what are they even doing here?”

“It seems like the distortion of the Palace draws them in,” Mona continued explaining. “Once they’re here, their forms change and they become underlings for the palace ruler, which is effectively the Shadow of whoever runs the Palace; in this case, Kamoshida.”

“Oh, okay,” Skull answered, and Violet felt a slight amount of shock that he actually understood what Mona said. However, she didn’t want to be rude, so Violet looked down at the table, waiting for Joker to give the order to go. “Wait, that doesn’t make any sense!”

“I had a feeling you would say that…” Mona sighed. “Just… don’t think too hard about it, alright? They’re enemies and you guys are new, so don’t let your guard down!”

“Let’s go,” Joker said almost as soon as Mona stopped talking and stood straight up, turning towards Violet as she looked up at him. “Violet, are you good?”

“Yes!” A sudden burst of energy escaped from Violet as she jumped to her feet. She wasn’t exactly sure where the energy was coming from, but all she knew was that Joker needed and believed in her. Even if she didn’t think she was useful, she would try to help him as much as possible, even with the somewhat severe mental exhaustion she felt.

“I’m all ready now as well! I didn’t get to do anything in the last fight, so I wanna kick some ass!” Skull announced as him and Panther got up from their seats, stretching his arm as he shot a grin towards Joker. However, the teen dressed in black kept his eyes on Violet before walking towards the door, and Violet made sure to stay in step with him as the two blondes and Mona followed quickly behind them. Violet barely heard Skull grumbling behind her, but his exact words evaded her as Joker creaked open the door to the safe room and darted into the hall.

“Joker!” Mona whispered from behind Violet, and both her and Joker turned simultaneously to see the cat rushing up towards Joker. “We have no clue what awaits us ahead, so you’d better take these.” In a flash, numerous objects formed with Mona’s tiny paws as he lifted them towards Joker, with the majority of them looking like some sort of breakable balls while two objects resembled a sort of bottle. “These tools have my seal of approval! Use them wisely, all right?”

Joker didn’t respond, instead grabbing all of the items and stuffing them into his tail coat, and Violet looked on to see them disappear from within the coat in slight amazement. ‘So that is how that works…’ Before Violet could think any more about it, Joker turned back towards the awaiting door in front of the group and slinked up towards it. Violet shook her head as she quickly followed after Joker, and soon they were both peering into what appeared to be a kitchen and dining room combined with a long table set with fruit baskets and candelabras at the back of the room. 

“Only one Shadow I see,” Joker whispered, his voice barely reaching Violet’s ears but still full of urgency. “The last three didn’t make an attempt to call for backup while we fought them, so as long as we have the upper hand to start we’ll be fine.” Violet found Joker’s eyes as he glanced back at her, and nodded as she assumed his question was if she was ready. Without another second to waste, Joker creaked open the door enough for them to slip through, and Violet stayed right next to Joker as he slowly crept into the room and towards the fairly large pillar towards the center of the room.

“Mona, stay back and watch for any reinforcements from behind,” Joker said without turning.

“I like where your head’s at!” Mona softly exclaimed, the soft pattering of his feet signifying that he was following Joker’s commands.

“Violet,” Joker began, turning towards the redhead with his knife in his hand. “There might be more Shadows beyond the turn up ahead, so after I knock this one off balance, be ready to strike at anything that comes around the corner.” Violet nodded, taking a breath to steady her beating heart. Did they really need to fight this much in such a short amount of time?

“Hey, uhh…” Skull said, his voice nowhere near a whisper as Violet saw Joker freeze from turning back towards the rest of the room.

“Joker, and be quiet Skull!” Panther admonished her fellow blonde, lightly slapping his head as she shook her own. As she saw Joker wasn’t peering out due to the blondes, Violet looked beyond the pillar to see the Shadow still patrolling back and forth, almost without purpose as its movements seemed lackadaisical. ‘Maybe we could sneak past them so we wouldn’t have to fight…’ Violet thought, trying to ignore how close she was to Joker.

“Right, Joker!” Skull continued on, and Violet felt on edge as the Shadow began making its way back towards the four. “What should we do, man?”  
“Use whatever skills you have to kill the Shadows,” Joker responded instantly, and returned peering from the pillar next to Violet without another word. Violet felt slightly relieved to not hear the usual coldness in Joker’s voice, but she didn’t have much time to linger on that relief as a subtle gripping noise came from her left. She knew what that meant as the Shadow they were targeting turned around, and was amply braced as Joker dashed from his crouched position out into the open. Violet watched in momentary awe as Joker soared through the air, backflipping as the torch light shone on his black cape, and landed onto the broad shoulders of the armored Shadow. 

“What th–?!” The Shadow shouted, its voice faltering as Joker ripped off its mask. She knew she couldn’t focus on what was happening in front of her as she trained her eyes on the end of the room with her short rifle trained on where another Shadow would rush out from, and she took a deep breath. ‘Stay calm, Sumire.’

Her nerves calmed just enough in time to fire off two shots instantly at the Shadow rushing out from the corner, with one of the bullets breaking off part of its mask while the other plinked off its shield. 

“Violet, take that Shadow!” Joker commanded, his knife lodged into the side of the pumpkin headed Shadow he was facing before ripping to the side. Violet nodded in response, gripping her rapier as her rifle fell to the ground before bursting from the cover, her parted tail coat flapping behind her as she rushed towards the convulsing Shadow.

However, as the Shadow began taking shape into a humanoid flower monster, Violet stopped in her tracks as two more Shadows began to form around it. “What?!” Violet shouted, backstepping as one of the Shadows in a jar shot towards her, narrowly missing her head as Violet found her footing. The other Shadow that formed was another pumpkin Shadow, and Violet felt a wave of dread as the three began to approach her.

“Captain Kidd!” Behind Violet, a loud crash boomed and an arc of electricity zoomed past her head. She didn’t have time to react as the electricity slammed into the Shadow in a jar, but it barely seemed to take any damage as it floated back to its original place in the air, a small crack formed in the jar. “Dammit!” Violet looked to her right just as Skull rushed next to her, his face showing his clear frustration as he gripped his overly large pole.

“Give ‘em hell, Carmen!” Panther’s voice rang throughout the dining room, and Violet felt a rush of heat overhead as a ball of flames rocketed towards the Shadows. Violet saw as the humanoid plant Shadow got sent into the wall, chunks of stone flying onto the ground from the crater it left as smoke rose from its body.

“Alright Panther! You’re so beautiful!” Mona’s voice was faint, but Violet knew she couldn’t look as the pumpkin Shadow and the Shadow in a jar began flying towards the three, Panther running to Violet’s left, and she lifted her rapier to stab towards the pumpkin Shadow. The first stab missed as the Shadow twirled to the right, but Violet’s sharp eyes and quickened reaction timing allowed her to catch the Shadow as it attempted to steady itself with the second thrust. A frail shriek echoed from it as Violet pulled back and, without hesitation, Violet cartwheeled backwards and fired a bullet straight into its head as her rifle formed, sending the Shadow to the ground with black blood steadily streaming from the two wounds.

“I got this one!” Mona shouted from behind, his tiny footsteps growing closer as Violet straightened. The black cat rushed past Violet and towards the final Shadow left floating midair, and a burst of blue flames revealed Zorro behind him as he slid to a stop in front of Violet. Green energy swirled from beneath the frightened Shadow, its allies downed around it, and Violet winced as what she thought were pained cries of a child erupted from the Shadow. 

“Mona, get back! Violet, you two, surround them!” Joker ordered as he suddenly appeared next to Violet, his pistol already in his hand and trained on the three Shadows on the ground, all of them bleeding and appearing to be near dead. Violet responded immediately, her right hand wrapping around her short rifle as she pointed it directly at the pumpkin Shadow.

To either side of her, Violet saw Skull and Panther hesitate before pulling out their own ranged weapons; for Skull a shotgun, and for Panther a submachine gun, and the four had the near dead Shadows cornered as Mona rushed back to his post.

“Let’s talk,” Joker surprisingly spoke to the Shadow in a jar, much calmer than Violet had expected from him. Taking a glance over, she saw his face was blank, no emotions creeping onto his face as his eyes were laser focused on the Shadows in front of him.

“O-okay then… Is there anyone you like, mister?” The Shadow asked. Despite the situation, Violet kept her eyes on Joker; she wasn’t expecting a question like this, but she would be lying if she wasn’t extremely intrigued.

“Not at the moment,” Joker answered back, and Violet found her heart sink slightly. She already knew the answer and wasn’t exactly sure why she felt this way. ‘Focus, Sumire!’ She scolded herself internally, shaking her head slightly before focusing on the Shadows

“So that means you’ll one day have someone you’ll like? Me too!” The Shadow said gleefully. “What do you like to do, mister?”

“Reading is fun.” Violet couldn’t tell if Joker was telling the truth or not; he usually didn’t act this open with anyone, not even her, and a strange feeling began rising within her chest as it tightened slightly.

“I also like reading! Wow mister, we have a lot in comm- Wait, I just found something out, mister! I’m not supposed to be here because I live in the humans’ sea of souls! I’m Agathion, and I can’t wait to play more with you, mister!”

Blue light surrounded the Shadow, Agathion, before it turned fully into a replica of Joker’s mask, and it flew straight onto Joker’s face. Violet noticed the agape mouths of both Panther and Skull next to her as they stared at Joker, but Joker retrained his gun on the two remaining Shadows on the ground. “What about you two?”

“Wait… I’m also not just a Shadow,” The remaining two announced, their voices weak as they barely raised their heads from the ground. “That’s right... I was a part of the sea of souls before coming here! My name is…”

“Mandrake!”  
“Jack-o-Lantern!”

Before anyone could react, two more masks flew towards Joker’s head as the two Shadows transformed, and the only thing that followed was silence. Violet stared in awe as Joker seemed completely relaxed, letting go of his pistol as he took in a breath. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Wait a sec dude, you ain’t gonna explain what that was?!” Skull shouted as Joker began walking forward, and Violet saw his hands twitch as he stopped in his tracks.

“I can use Shadows as Personas,” Joker said without turning, and Violet knew that would be the extent of his explanation. However, Joker turned his head as Mona’s scurrying grew closer to the four, and Violet felt a shiver down her spine staring at the dark look in his eyes. “Mona, when I say stay on guard, I mean it. We can’t be caught off guard.”

“G-got it!” Mona stopped dead in his tracks, fear clear in his eyes as he looked up at Joker before giving way to intrigue and excitement, almost too quickly in Violet’s mind. “So if you convince one Shadow to join you, the rest will just follow?!”

“Seems like it, but that I can’t count on that being constant.” Joker readjusted his red gloves, and Violet found herself doing the same unconsciously before stopping as Joker turned towards her. “Let’s go.”

Before Violet could nod in response, Joker turned to the next door and strode over, and she followed quickly to not be left behind. She heard the three behind them walk after them as Joker pushed the door open slightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I return! As you can clearly see, this is merely part one of chapter ten, and the second(and final) part of it will come out soon(already have it written, just need to read it over again). So, so happy to be back updating again, and hope that I can keep it up in the weeks, months, and however long it takes to finish this story to come! Buckle up, cause I got some crazy ideas for Joker and co.


	11. Venture into the Palace of Lust(Part Two)

“One Shadow ahead,” Joker whispered, not bothering to turn his head as he felt Violet’s presence right next to him. As he stared at the Shadow trudging up and down the hallway lined with green chairs, Joker’s mind began to turn. ‘Sumire can’t use Cendrillon much anymore, and we’re wasting energy fighting. There’s also the possibility of multiple Shadows appearing from one of these things, so if we can kill it before it can transform that would be ideal.’

“Joker-senpai, what are we going to do?” Violet asked, snapping Joker from his thoughts as he blinked a few times before locking back onto the Shadow.

“We take down the Shadow before it transforms.” Behind Joker, he heard tiny footsteps approach and felt Mona’s presence grow closer to his left, but never tore his eyes off of the hallway.

“Joker, we may have been able to defeat them before, but that was when Kamoshida didn’t see us as too big of threats! Just rip off its mask and we’ll take down whatever comes out of it!”

“We need to conserve as much energy as possible, both mental and physical,” Joker countered plainly. On silent command, his knife slid into his hand from nothingness and Joker crouched from where he was peering into the hall from. He felt four sets of eyes on his back as he did so, and he grit his teeth. ‘This would be easier with just Sumire… Having those three move with us is going to be a pain, especially if we’re trying to not be seen.’ Joker shook his head as he saw the Shadow turn back around and began its slow walk back to the other side of the hall. ‘They must not have very good eyesight.’

“Violet, stay close to me. You three stay put,” Joker whispered, gripping his knife and taking a glance over at Violet. He received a nod from her, and didn’t need anything else as he saw her rapier form in her left hand and returned his attention back to the hallway. The Shadow was roughly halfway up the hallway, Joker noted, and without any further thought took a crouched step through the slightly open door.

Violet, much to Joker’s relief, did exactly as he asked as he never felt her presence get too far away from him as he dashed towards the nearest green chair, immediately peering out from it as he pressed his back into the soft armrest. Pain flaring up in his back nearly made Joker lose focus, but he kept his eyes sharp and on the Shadow as it was nearing its turning point. 

“Violet, after I attack from on its shoulders, try and get to the Shadow’s front and pierce it’s head, alright?” Joker glanced behind at the redhead to get another nod, this one more hesitant than the last. However, Joker barely caught the difference as he turned his attention back towards the Shadow, unable to ignore the three others clear in the doorway. ‘It’s a miracle this Shadow doesn’t see them… Whatever.’

Taking an annoyed breath, Joker flexed his legs as the Shadow neared his and Violet’s hiding spot and, when it was within arms’ reach of the chair, jumped from his crouching position.

“Huh?!” The Shadow shouted as Joker dug his heel into the Shadow’s back, steadying himself as the Shadow desperately tried to throw him off. However, before the Shadow could achieve that, Joker grabbed hold of the Shadow’s neck to fully stabilize himself, gripping as tight as he could. 

“Violet!” Spinning his knife, Joker called out to the girl before making a clean cut across its throat, letting go with his left hand right before his knife flashed across. However, that meant that he didn’t have anywhere to steady himself as Joker was thrown off of the Shadow, wincing as a shot of pain rushed through his right arm as he slid to a stop. His vision wavered for a brief moment before Joker forced himself to a sitting position, just in time to see Violet slash and stab forward with her rapier.

Joker jumped to his feet, knife in hand as he frowned; Violet’s attacks were all landing, but the Shadow was barely reacting as it attempted to steady itself from his surprise attack except for holding its shield in front of its face. “Violet, back up!” Joker shouted, just in time as the Shadow erupted, the sludge morphing immediately into two of the green horned Shadow beasts. “Dammit… This is the only way we can fight now! Pixie!”

The frail Persona burst into existence from the blue flames in front of Joker as he ripped off his mask, and the Shadows instantly turned and began charging at him, rage deep within their red eyes. Joker easily stepped to the side as their glittering horns sped past his face, sure to slice it open if they were to land, but Joker flipped around at the momentarily helpless Shadows.

Kicking off the ground, Joker focused his attention on the leftmost Shadow which was turning slightly faster than the one on the right, and felt a slight wave of shock run through his mind as a streak of electricity flew over his shoulder and towards the Shadow. A pained cry burst from the Shadow along with a splatter of blood, and Joker saw it collapse onto the ground. It was nearly dead, but Joker couldn’t finish it off as he jumped to the left, the other Shadow’s horn barely slashing him across the chest.

“Arsene!” Joker roared, feeling a warm liquid trickle down from the wound and knew he was bleeding. He reached back up for his mask as Pixie disappeared and, ripping it off, immediately spun on his heels and towards the Shadow which was slowing down. As he locked onto the creature, Arsene formed above it with its leg lifted into the air and crashed down onto the Shadow’s back. 

Another loud cry of pain echoed around the long hallway as Joker found a splatter of black blood on his face, and a feeling not unfamiliar to him began to resurface as a wild grin began spreading across his face. He could feel the adrenaline beginning to flow through his veins, making it progressively harder to stay focused as his eyes locked onto the Shadow that Arsene was ripping its energy-infused leg out of.

The thought of rushing forward, slicing through the Shadow’s flesh and sending its blood all across the hallway bubbled in Joker’s mind as he flipped his knife in his right hand, gripping it in reverse even as the enraged Shadow’s green horns began glimmering with the same strange energy that Arsene’s leg was surrounded by. The other Shadow wasn’t a threat as it was squirming on the ground, but Joker wasn’t even paying attention to it as a wretched chuckle escaped his mouth as he rushed forward with the last standing Shadow.

A rush of pain flooded Joker’s body as the Shadow’s horn slashed at and sunk into his side, but Joker’s grin widened as he forced his knife through the Shadow’s solid body. With one final push, Joker freed himself from the beast’s horn along with his knife from its body, finishing the fatal cut from its head to its rear. He didn’t have to look back as he heard the Shadow collapse behind him to his right, and the rush of pure pleasure combatted the constant of pain from his side, blood trickling down his torn coat as he turned his attention towards the still helpless Shadow next to him.

“You’re ne- The hell…?” Joker positioned his knife over the Shadow incoherently muttering on the ground before the feeling of euphoria petered away, leaving only the searing pain from his bleeding side to wrack his body. The desire to kill, to destroy, was no longer present in him, leaving almost as quickly as it came and allowing the pain to stop Joker in his tracks.

“W-what the? Weren’t you gonna kill me?” The Shadow’s voice echoed from the center of the room, drawing Joker’s attention away from the distracting pain in his side and he quickly let go of his knife and gripped his pistol instead, training it directly between the Shadow’s red eyes.

“Let’s talk,” Joker responded, barely masking the pain present in his voice. 

“...Alright then. If that’s your goal, then let’s talk,” the Shadow said, barely able to keep its head up. “Cornin’ me like this is no easy feat… Say, how do you train?”

“I don’t train,” Joker responded, the words falling out of his mouth almost naturally.

“That’s what you tell me, but I say you spend more time at the gym than you do at school.” There was a slight hint of amusement in the Shadow’s voice as it spoke with a near grin covering its face as it stared at Joker. “Y’know, in the human world, I hear that when people meet each other, it’s called “fate”. What kinda “fate” do you think there is in this meetin’ between you and me?”

“Fate brought us together.” Joker could now feel the intense gaze behind him locked onto his head and knew instantly that it was from Violet, but made sure to keep his eyes glued onto the Shadow in front of him even as he heard her whisper “Dia” behind him. A cool feeling rushed over him as the large wound in his side began to close and the blood dried up, leaving Joker revitalized as stared down the Shadow.

“Huh. I guess fate’s got some role in all sorts of mysteries. What a coincidence, my sentiments exactly- Hey! I can’t believe it… I remember now…” The Shadow began shifting from where it was laying, it’s beaten body barely looking like it would hold together, and Joker knew that he could let his pistol down. “I’m no Shadow from this place. I used to be livin’ in that there sea of the human soul! From now on, call me Bicorn. No need fer honorifics, sonny.” 

Once again, the Shadow in front of Joker began shimmering blue before turning into an exact replica of Joker’s mask, and Joker didn’t flinch as the mask flew directly over his already existing mask. Immediately Bicorn’s existence was felt within Joker’s mind along with his other five Persona’s, and just as quickly his mind felt full and ready to burst. ‘Anymore and I won’t be able to handle them all… I should take up Igor’s offer and do that fusion thing he was going on about.’

“Joker-senpai!” Violet’s voice broke Joker’s thought process as he turned his head towards her just in time as she reached his side. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Joker responded as he nodded his head. He didn’t want to talk about the small outburst from before because, frankly, he wasn’t sure what that was about either, so he turned his attention back onto the hall and began walking forward. “Let’s g–”

“Hold on a second, dude! You ain’t gonna explain you laughin’ like that earlier?!” Skull shouted from behind, his voice growing louder as Joker closed his eyes. His face scrunched into irritation, almost instinctively, as the blond's words reached his ears. 

“Stop talking.” Joker looked back and locked eyes with Skull, nothing but contempt in his eyes. The hall went silent as Joker saw the emotions in the blond’s eyes shift: first to shock, then to fear, and finally reaching confusion. 

After a few moments of silence with the three onlooker’s eyes on Joker and Skull, Joker closed his eyes and turned back towards the end of the hallway and continued walking forward. Nothing else needed to be said as he could feel Violet right by his side, and as they approached the next door three sets of footsteps were heard rushing after them. 

Joker much preferred this silence compared to the near constant whispering of the three behind him and Violet as he pushed open the door at the end of the hallway, leading into a dank circular stairwell that led up to an open doorway. As he led the way up the stairs, the small but annoying headache died down until all he could feel was a slight prickling in the back of his head and his mind cleared enough to take stock of the situation in the next hallway leading from the open doorway.

“One Shadow, a door midway down the hall, and a path leading to the left…” He muttered under his breath, unconsciously wrapping his fingers around his knife as he locked onto the Shadow.

“Are we gonna ambush this one as well?” Skull, much to Joker’s chagrin, asked loudly, not even bothering to lower his voice. However, before Joker could turn and lock his cold, piercing gaze onto the blond, he heard a small but pronounced thunk followed by an “ow”.

“Can’t you be quiet for once?” Panther hissed quietly, but Joker still felt uneasy as the Shadow stopped at the end of the hall and began to turn towards the five.

‘This would be so much easier with just me and Violet…’ Joker found himself thinking yet again, his grip tightening around his knife as he took a breath in. ‘Wait, they seemed to have bad eyesight, especially when I’m lower to the ground…’

“Joker, I’ve got an idea!” Just as Joker was turning to face the cat, his high pitched voice reached his ears, so instead he turned back towards the hall and nodded his head slightly to let Mona continue. “You and Violet kept low to the ground earlier when you were sneaking up to that Shadow, so I’m sure you noticed that it didn’t see you! Palaces have this weird quirk that whenever you are ‘hiding’ behind something, the Shadows won’t see you!”

“Another thing based on cognition?”

“Basically, yes.”

Joker nodded again, never taking his eyes off of the Shadow as it turned back around. ‘I can’t be certain that the Shadow won’t see anyone, though. I have enough faith in Violet to stay by my side, but the others…’

“Just give the word, and I’ll make sure we all stay adequately covered and follow behind you, alright?” Mona’s voice broke through Joker’s thoughts, and he could see Violet out of the corner of his eye nod, her weariness clear on her face.

‘Avoiding fights is a good idea for the time being… We probably can’t go much further with her in that state.’ Joker blinked a few times, holding back a small yawn as he kept his eyes sharp. ‘I’m reaching my limit as well… One more fight might be the most I can do for now.’

“Stay low and stay right with me, Violet. Mona, keep your word. If any of you three get caught, handle it yourself,” Joker hastily whispered. Not bothering to wait for any affirmations, he crouched down, gritting his teeth as the back of his coat pressed against his wounded back, and, as the Shadow was facing away from him, dashed into the room. 

A minute part of himself felt relief as Violet’s presence never faded from behind him as they took cover behind the nearest green chair, the feeling growing slightly as the other three seemed to stay back. Taking another breath and flexing his lower half, Joker dashed towards the next piece of cover in what felt like an instant, with Violet still right on his heels. “The hell…?” Joker let out accidentally, caught off guard by their sheer speed. The moment of vulnerability lasted less than a second as Joker’s eyes locked back onto the Shadow which was just turning back around.

‘Just cognition… Right.’ And with that, Joker pushed any questions or doubts remaining about the Metaverse to the depths of his mind; none of them were worth answering at the moment anyways. ‘It works to our advantage, so no point in questioning it at the moment.’

As his thoughts were passing through his mind, Joker saw the two blondes dash at around the same speed he and Violet moved at, holding his breath as the Shadow began looking around wildly right next to their cover.

“What the… Could’ve sworn I heard something…” The Shadow said loudly. Joker had let go of his knife at this point, knowing it was easier to move around without it, and gripped both his hands tightly into fists. 

‘How stupid are they to go as the Shadow was walking towards th- Huh?’

Joker’s body relaxed as the Shadow suddenly turned on its heels, giving a slight shrug as it began its shamble back towards the end of the hallway, and he could feel Violet’s do the same. 

‘They must be dumber than I thought… I guess I gave them too much credit.’ As he let his mind work, Joker kicked off the ground again, more confident in his speed and that the Shadow wouldn’t notice him, again finding himself and Violet behind the next and last chair along the hall.

Once again, he saw the two blondes dash behind the cover he and Violet were just behind, and his eyes darted back onto the Shadow and realized too late that he and Violet were out in the open. “Violet!” Without any further thought, Joker grabbed hold of Violet’s hand and yanked her across the hallway and behind the corner of the wall.

“A-mrph!” Joker winced as Violet began crying out in surprise, and his free hand flew over her mouth. Thankfully, she seemed to understand immediately as Joker caught a glimpse of her body loosen up as he looked back down the hallway, unable to ignore the fact that her face was turning a faint pink. 

‘Again? What’s up with he- Shit!’ They had barely made it to their new hiding spot as the Shadow turned back around, but Joker could hear another set of heavy footsteps growing closer to them from his right. Joker’s knife immediately formed back in his hand as he prepared for battle, probably against both Shadows. ‘Dammit, I let my guard do–’

“Wait… what?” Joker, again, didn’t stop himself from whispering in bewilderment. The only thing between him and Violet and the Shadow was empty space, and anything with eyes could see them, but the Shadow simply stopped a few paces away from the two similarly dressed thieves before turning around, dully humming a few notes repeatedly to itself.

“Can… can they not see us?” Violet asked tentatively, her voice shaking somewhat. Joker then realized the amount of shock he was showing on his face and quickly wiped it clean, letting go of his knife as he blinked away any trace of surprise from his eyes.

“It appears not… How dull are these things?” Joker was feeling much more confident; if the Shadows can’t see them even out in the open, maybe they could infiltrate further into the Palace than previously anticipated.

“Joker-senpai, the others are catching up,” Violet whispered, and Joker simply nodded in response without looking back, keeping close to the wall as he locked his eyes on the nearest chair to their current hiding place.

“I’m going, follow after me.” Without waiting for a response, Joker sped towards the chair and pressed up against it, passing behind the oblivious Shadow with his tailcoat flapping behind him. He didn’t miss a beat as he kicked off from behind the chair, and, remembering how the previous Shadow didn’t catch the two blondes earlier, dove right behind the Shadow and behind the final chair in the hallway.

“Hrm?!” Just as the oblivious Shadow began to look around, Joker circled around the plush chair in an instant. Even though there was ample proof that the Shadow wouldn’t see him, his body reacted almost on its own. There wasn’t a slight chance he would let himself get caught; not again.

The Shadow that Joker snuck past soon returned to its normal path, the sound of muted metallic stomps echoing around the hallway. Turning around, Joker locked eyes nearly immediately with Violet still behind the chair towards the center of the hallway. ‘I’m going on ahead, don’t leave me waiting,’ Joker mouthed as he motioned towards the door behind him only a few paces behind him. Thankfully, Violet seemed to understand as she gave a small nod that Joker managed to catch.

Joker kicked off from his hiding spot right after making sure the Shadow was facing away from him. For hopefully the final time, Joker was stunned by his sudden speed as he found himself directly in front of the door, his right hand finding its way to the handle and pushing the decorative door open.

Silently letting the door close, Joker shut his eyes for a brief moment to try and listen for the footsteps of the Shadow. After a few seconds, extremely faint thuds reached his ears and he let out the small breath he was holding; he was in the clear.

“What’s that?” It took only a moment for Joker to take in the room he was in; a fairly large room with iron bars  enclosing the center of the room with stone pillars breaking them up every few bars. Taking a few strides forward, Joker clasped his hands around two bars and peered into the center of the room, directing his eyes at a wooden table sitting directly in the middle of the enclosure. 

‘Is that a… map?’ Laid messily across the table was an old piece of parchment, Joker barely able to see it was written on with ink but couldn’t make out the layout on it. ‘That could be useful. I have no clue how big this place actually is. Although…’ Joker took a step back, his arms dropping to his side as he looked around at the bars. ‘There has to be a way in…’ 

_ “That is a thief’s skill, allowing one to tap into their sixth sense and see what is hidden in the dark…” _

“No better time to use it than now…” With Igor’s words ringing in his mind, Joker focused inward and upward towards the center of his forehead, and felt his skin begin to rustle as his eyesight sharpened and his hearing enhanced. However, that wasn’t all, and as Joker continued scanning the room, something felt off. 

‘The hell?’ Joker’s eyes narrowed as they landed on the two black ram’s heads mounted on adjacent pillars. Chains were hanging from their mouths with an iron loop at the bottom, but that wasn’t what Joker was focusing on as he approached the left most head. ‘It’s… glowing. Only somewhat, but especially near the hoop.’

Joker broke from his thoughts and spun around as the door to the room began creaking open, his knife flashing into his hand. Joker’s “third eye”, or whatever Igor called it, had deactivated as his senses dulled back to normal, and he let his knife go immediately as Violet fully entered the room and closed the door before turning towards Joker. 

“It didn’t see you, correct?”

“Mhm,” Violet answered along with nodding her head, clearly unaware that Joker had his knife directed at her moments ago. “What’s that?”

“A map.” Joker turned back towards the curious ram’s head as Violet walked towards and past him, stopping just shy of the bars surrounding the sole table. After a brief moment of concentration, the “third eye” reopened, his eyes being met with the same shimmer of blue light as before. However, something else caught Joker’s eyes as he began moving towards the head, and he stopped and looked down at the ground.

“Violet, are there blue footprints here?” Joker asked, keeping his gaze down on the numerous footprints leading up to and from the ram’s head.

“I… I don’t see anything, Joker-senpai. Why?” Violet asked back, her voice mixed with confusion and curiosity, and Joker felt her presence grow closer as he rose his head back up to the ram’s head.

‘There’s another one lit up on the other side… Yeah, that has to be it.’

“Wait here, and don’t touch anything until I’m done.” Without pause, Joker approached the glowing ram’s head after quickly closing and reopening his third eye, seeing not only the blue light on the ram’s head disappear but also the footprints fade into nothing. The chain was surprisingly easy to move as Joker gripped the hoop at the bottom and pulled down with a pronounced “clink” following.

Joker heard Violet’s voice to his right, but it was distant and he didn’t catch what she said at all as his focus was on the issue at hand. The gleaming red eyes of the ram turned off and the spectral blue hue around it disappeared instantly, and Joker turned to the left to continue testing his theory.

“Other side now…” Joker muttered to himself, following the strange footprints until he reached the other side of the enclosement and stopped in front of yet another shimmering ram’s head. With another pull, the ram’s eyes became black, and instantly the bars shot upwards.

“What the–Ow!” 

“Quiet, Skull!” 

“What happened in here?”   
The current peace Joker was finding comfort in was quickly broken by the sudden stream of comments from the entrance of the room. Skull was clutching his head due to a swift chop to the head from Panther while Mona was staring directly at Joker, his eyes full of questions, but Joker instead focused on the map as he walked up to the table in the center of the room. 

“The hell? Why’s some old map just lying out like this?” Skull loudly asked, four sets of footprints telling Joker everything he needed to know as he gently lifted the old parchment. 

“We saw the bars shoot up as we walked in, Skull!” Mona hastily responded.

“Why would he lock it up, then?”   
“You’re hopeless… Having this will help us better navigate the palace and hopefully help us determine where the treasure is.”

“It’s incomplete,” Joker said simply after taking a quick scan of the page before folding it and sticking it into his coat. “Violet!” Joker’s coat blew behind him as he flipped around and began walking towards the door leading out of the room.

“Dude, wait up!”

The next hallway was very much like the previous one as Joker creaked open the door and waited for Violet. “One Shadow. We’re avoiding this one as well.” The rules of the Metaverse were strange and didn’t make much sense, but they didn’t have to as long as they played to Joker’s favor. He had them largely figured out as he dashed from chair to chair, weaving behind the Shadow before rolling behind the edge of the wall.

‘Another one, then there’s the door. With how slow these things are, I should be able to avoid it.’

Taking a small breath, Joker braced his legs just as he kicked forward, not staying behind any one chair for more than a second as he reached the door, and, since the Shadow was facing away, quickly slipped through it into the Central Hall. Looking around, Joker found that the way to get to the other side was blocked off with iron bars, but noticed numerous large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

‘I can use that to get up there,’ Joker thought, catching a glimpse of a bookcase to his right, and with seemingly zero effort jumped onto a shelf above the bookcase and then onto a fairly large overhang above that.

“Violet, up here,” Joker whispered as he saw the door open once again and the redhead silently entered. He only received a nod, a stark difference to the bombastic nature of the other three, and crept forward on the wide enough overhang as Violet climbed up with a certain amount of grace, he noticed.

“What about the others?” Joker stopped just as he began to take a step forward, gritting his teeth but not looking back at Violet. She was going to be obstinate with him, he knew, so there was no point in wasting any breath. 

Only five seconds passed until the door opened yet again, the three others coming out in various heights with Skull not even making an attempt to crouch. “Where the hell are th– Ow! Stop that!”

“Stop making so much noise, idiot!” Panther hissed after slapping Skull’s head, and Joker found himself losing patience fast. 

‘We’d already be at the other side if we didn’t have them slowing us down.’

“Let’s go.” Maybe it was his creeping headache, or maybe it was the fact that they were wasting time, but Joker moved as fast as he could across the overhang and towards the nearest chandelier. Violet was behind him, her presence easily identifiable to Joker and much more pronounced than the others, as he reached the end of the overhang, and, without hesitation, took a small leap onto the chandelier.

“Dude, be careful!” Skull’s voice reached to where Joker was as the chandelier shook slightly, but he simply ignored the blond as he moved towards and jumped onto the second, much larger, chandelier.

“Joker, you might be moving too fast!” This time it was Mona who warned Joker, but there was only one chandelier left to cross, and Violet was staying entirely quiet behind him as they dashed onto and off the final one quickly and onto a similar overhang. Dropping from the overhang proved to be a much simpler task than getting up to it as Joker gracefully landed onto the floor, Violet landing right next to him.

No time was wasted moving into the next room, the other three eventually catching up as Joker unlocked a chest in the middle of the fairly large room using one of his newly made lockpicks. Like nearly everything in the Metaverse, picking a lock was a lot simpler than Joker anticipated as the lock fell to the ground, and he forced the chest open to reveal what seemed to be a small piece of armor. ‘Looks like something one of the Shadows would wear…’

“Oh, a safe room! Joker, let’s go in!” Mona exclaimed, and another round of pain shot through Joker’s head.

“We haven’t done much fighting, and there’s no point in talking.” Taking a breath to rid himself of the sudden dull pain in his mind, Joker looked over to Violet and motioned for her to follow, and she nodded with a small look of pity on her face that Joker simply ignored. There was a small amount of chatter from the three behind them as Joker and Violet moved towards the door, but were soon following after them as Joker creaked the door open to be met with another long hallway.

“No Shadows in sight, stay close to me and be ready to hide.” Joker knew Violet nodded without looking at her and made his way down the stairs and pressed his body against the edge of the wall as the hallway turned to the right and glanced out. “Still nothing…”

There was something Joker wanted to try out, so when he saw a Shadow shambling down a long stretch of the hallway from behind the edge of the wall, he opened his third eye. ‘Just as I thought…’ The fact that numerous Shadows could hide within one of the “shells” bothered Joker; how could they all appear from one Shadow? The answer to his question was floating within the Shadow he was spying on as it turned back around, more importantly the two blue orbs he noticed hovering within it. ‘I can test it later whether that means there’s two more Shadows with the main one or just two of them within that shell, but I can at least determine their strength like this before we fight.’

Dodging around the Shadow was an outstandingly easy task for Joker and Violet as they reached the set of stairs at the end of the hallway. Another Shadow’s footsteps could be heard to Joker’s right as he climbed up the stairs, and he caught a glimpse of the dull armor going into the next room as he reached the top of the stairs.

“We’re fighting this one. Violet, use your rifle and blade. You two,” Joker turned towards the two blondes who had just caught up with him and Violet. “Use your Personas, and don’t get in the way. Mona, give us backup if we need it while keeping an eye on that Shadow down there.” The fact that there were two balls swirling around inside the shell of the Shadow when Joker looked at it with his Third Eye made him think that perhaps it was something all Shadows had despite the number of Shadows they held, but only time would tell. 

“Who’re you?!” The Shadow cried out as Joker flew through the air and ripped off it’s mask, jumping to the side to avoid being thrown off like last time. The small lake of ooze began bubbling as Joker reached up to his mask, feeling the wealth of Persona’s within his subconscious clearly in his mind, and three creatures burst up from the sludge. None of them were recognizable to Joker, with a feline-like Shadow with a saber in its left hand and wearing a red hat and scarf and a pale green haired woman Shadow clothed in a flowing red dress on either side of half of a green horse hovering in the air with tendrils floating aimlessly behind it.

“Bicorn!” With a flash of blue flames and intense winds flowing around him, the green horned beast appeared in front of Joker just as the Shadows steadied themselves in the center of the large, empty room. “Go!” Holding back the malicious grin already lurking underneath his focused glare, Joker grabbed hold of his materializing knife as his Persona let out a loud grunt before both charged forward. 

In that moment, nothing else existed to Joker besides him, Bicorn, and the three enemies in front of him. It was like that in the fight before, and even before that as well. It was like the world dimmed around him, his focus only being on himself.

Reaching the group of Shadows, Joker caught the red robed woman with the tip of his knife as he stabbed forward twice, once high and once low, feeling it sink into supple flesh both times. A splatter of blood hit Joker’s face and coats as the woman let out a pained shriek and floated away quickly, and Joker kept the guttural laugh that threatened to break free in his throat as he glanced over towards where Bicorn was.

His Personas were a part of him, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t act freely from him. Not much thought had gone into why, but that didn’t matter all that much as Bicorn stood on its hind legs and let out another grunt as a small but violent stream of green air shot out towards the bottomless horse. 

Another splattering of blood flew everywhere with the Shadow on the receiving end of the punishment wincing and crying out in pain, but it and the green haired woman quickly regained their bearings. Joker barely had any time to react as a flaming ball of fire crashed into the ground where he was just standing. He hadn’t lost track of the third Shadow, but more so the attack came much faster than anticipated, so the flames were able to lick at his legs before he fully flipped away.

The sudden searing pain wasn’t enough to break Joker’s focus as he landed almost directly behind Bicorn, his new gun acquired from Iwai in hand with his knife falling to the ground. Two shots were fired out, only one hitting the cat-like Shadow in its right arm, and not being in the thick of combat allowed Joker a quick reminder of the four sets of eyes currently watching him.

“Violet, shoot the one in the middle!” Again, Joker’s knife flashed into his hand as he sped towards the Shadow he previously targeted with his gun, bleeding somewhat but still looking healthy.

His body suddenly felt extremely cold one moment, then a rush of pain entered and flowed through his chest as he stopped midway through rushing towards the cat Shadow. ‘Bicorn must have been hit… Dammit!’

As the Shadow was a good ways away from him began playing with another fireball, two loud bangs were quickly followed with a loud cry of pain from the Shadow as it was forced sliding backwards with two streams of black blood flowing down its shoulders. 

“Senpai, are you alri–?”

“Garu, Bicorn!” His chest was tight as heat began spreading throughout his body, staring daggers at the staggered but still healthy Shadow, and Bicorn’s enraged roar throughout the room matched the contempt building within Joker as the same green winds built up in front of Bicorn, only this time the larger gust of green energy sped faster towards the Shadow. Not another cry came from the Shadow as the winds cut straight through it, leaving nothing but a corpse in an instant.

“Shit… Violet! You two!” Joker yelled, his head pounding as the sudden burst of energy faded, leaving him with nothing but feeling entirely exhausted. 

“Got it! Blow ‘em away, Captain!” As Joker straightened himself back up, he saw a rush of black to his right as Skull’s Persona rode through the air towards the red robed Shadow, electricity crackling in its arm cannon, and, as the the Shadow fired a chunk of ice towards the pirate Persona, Captain Kidd fired off a bolt of electricity at the Shadow. 

“Carmen!” On his other side, Joker saw a large fireball hurtling towards the final Shadow, the woman falling to the ground and fading into dust and sludge. At this point, due to the immense fatigue he was feeling, Bicorn had disappeared and Joker’s mask had reformed on his face, but he reached up again as the last Shadow appeared burnt but still alive.

“Senpai, let me finish this!” Before he could summon Pixie or even respond, Violet had her rapier in her hand and was racing towards the stunned Shadow. With the flames of the candles bouncing off the cold steel in her hand, Violet twirled to the right as the mutilated horse tried to headbutt, dodging with grace as she thrust her blade into its throat. A gutteral screech exited the creature’s mouth for only a moment before ceasing, and Joker saw the Shadow go limp and ultimately dissipate on Violet’s rapier.

“Wow, nice work there guys! You didn’t even need my help after all!” Mona exclaimed the moment the final Shadow disappeared, and Joker winced as the pounding increased evermore in his head, closing his eyes to try and combat the pain.

“Senpai, are you alright?” Violet’s voice approached him and his eyes flew open, seeing the redheaded girl standing in front of him. Her eyes were full of concern, similar to right before they entered the palace.

“Yeah, let’s go,” was all Joker said after a few moments of pause, and moved past Violet and into the center of the room. Violet was tense as he passed by her, but nothing else came from the conversation as he looked around the room while fighting back the extreme fatigue befallen on him.

‘I made the same mistake as she did. We can’t stay much longer in here,’ Joker thought as he ignored the small chatter of the two blondes and cat behind him, a barely noticeable “Dia” coming from Mona as the physical pain he felt subsided. Refreshed but still metnally tired, Joker scanned the room, and his eyes landed on vertical bars blocking the path into the next room with more of the ram’s heads lining the walls of the room. Instantly, Joker’s Third Eye opened, and was met with the blue light emanating off the closest head next to the bars. 

He was met with a similar clink from before, but the bars didn’t budge as he pulled down the loop. “The hell? Why ain’t it budging?” Skull asked, his already loud voice being amplified by Joker’s enhanced senses sending another wave of pain through his mind. However, he kept calm as he followed a trail of blue footprints into an alcove on the left side of the room, with another lit up ram’s head on the wall.

“Whoa, did you guys hear that?” Panther shouted after Joker pulled down on the second hoop, the clear sound of the bars in the main room going up reaching Joker’s ears. He gave the two blondes nothing but a cold stare as he turned around and walked back towards where the bars had previously been, seeing Violet out of the corner of his eye standing right next to him.

“How did you know which to pull, Joker-senpai?” Violet was staring at Joker with her eyes full of intrigue, Joker could tell.

“I’ll tell you later, let’s just keep going for now,” Joker whispered back, walking into a large dining room that was gated off with more of the same iron bars.

“More of these things?” Skull whined behind Joker, whose Third Eye opened immediately as he noticed the ram’s heads mounted all around the room. He knew that there was an exit to the room to his right, so Joker approached the glowing ram’s head and pulled down on the hoop. Instantly, the layout of the room changed as the bars to the right of the head went up, while the bars to Joker’s left descended. The only other glowing head Joker saw was the one adorning the same pillar as the last head, so Joker yanked the hoop downwards as well, triggering the bars that just came up to go back down while the bars to his right to rise.

“How the hell is he figuring this shit out, uhhh…”

“Mona, and be quiet, Skull!”

“Alright, alright, but do you know how he’s figurin’ this shit out?”   
“No clue…”

Joker chose to ignore the cat and blond as he pulled on yet another glowing ram’s head, lowering the bars to his side, but he didn’t see where else changed. ‘There’s a vent up there…’

Without much thought past that, Joker grabbed hold of the shelving unit and hefted himself up on top of it, crouching down and squeezing himself into the large enough vent.

“Wait, am I really supposed to climb through that?”

“C’mon Panther, there’s no other way we can go right now!”

“Urgh… fine, but me and Violet are going last!”

Joker was already through the vent and jumped down onto the ground on the other side of the bars as he heard the four begin climbing through and shook his head slightly before walking through an open pathway and into a small room. After pulling on the chain and hearing a distant clunk, Joker approached the chest at the head of the room and slowly pried it open.

“The hell is this? Why’s armor like this just in a chest?” Joker mumbled before throwing the armor into his coat, feeling it disappear as he let it go.

“Oh, the path’s open now!” Joker heard Mona exclaim as he moved out of the small room.

“There’s two Shadows in there; quiet, cat,” Joker hissed as he passed by the group, instantly feeling Violet behind him as he snaked his way towards the now open exit. “We’re not fighting it,” Joker whispered to Violet, seeing only one orb floating within both of the Shadows. ‘So that does signify difference in numbers…’

Passing by the Shadow and into the next room was easy as they were entirely oblivious to Joker dashing right behind and around them, and the next room appeared to be the end of the road as the door directly in front of him had a metal bar keeping it shut in some sort of locking contraption.

“How the hell are we supposed to get around this?” Skull actually managed to whisper behind Joker as the raven haired teen turned towards the nearest shelving unit and climbed up to better search the room.

“Another vent, let’s go Violet.” Joker jumped from shelf to shelf, feeling each one wobble slightly before reaching the vent, and smoothly sliding into the grimy passageway.

“Again?” Panther’s sigh barely reached Joker as he turned the corner, light pouring into his retinas as he soon looked down into another small room. “Skull, if you even dare look up I’ll kick you into next week!”

“Ugh, I’m not gonna look. Just hurry and go, you two.”

“Hey Joker, a treasure chest!” Mona exclaimed the obvious as Joker peered down into the well furnished room.

“Yeah, and an enemy,” Joker dully replied, his head pounding with every word he spoke.

“Try and ambush it from up here! It should be the same as when you hide and jump a Shadow!”

‘We can’t sneak out of here that well, and there’s… nothing swirling within it. If that means there’s only one Shadow in there, I can easily take it by myself.

“Alright, I’m going.” Without giving the other’s a chance to respond, Joker pushed himself out of the vent and onto the back of the unassuming Shadow. A similar struggle as before occurred as he ripped off its mask and jumped onto the floor a few feet away, hand already up to his mask as a single Jack-o-Lantern formed from the black liquid.

“Pft, easy. Garu!” Despite the sudden rush of mental pain Joker felt as Bicorn formed in front of him, he managed to hold his concentration long enough for a blast of the green energy to cut into the Shadow, leaving it near dead on the ground in the span of seconds.

“H-hee-ho… I surrender! Please have m-mercy, ho!”

“Give me something in return,” Joker replied naturally, hearing four sets of varying weights hit the ground behind him.

“Hee… how about some money, ho?”

“Alright.” As soon as Joker nodded, a large amount of coins exploded out of the Jack-o-Lantern and it quickly disappeared from view. At the same time, Joker felt his wallet within his coat grow heavier, and quickly masked his confusion as he heard Violet approach from behind.

“Did… did that Shadow just beg for it’s life?” 

“Shadows have emotions too. Of course they’ll be afraid if you corner them.”

“O-oh… right.”

Joker looked over at Violet; her eyes were downcast, and it seemed like she was nearing her limit for the day. ‘Just a little bit more.’

Joker strolled over to the chest and quickly opened it, procuring a silver ring with an emerald stuck in it. As he held it in his hand, he could feel a small breeze coming from it, and a barely detectable wisp of green wind surrounding it.

Turning towards the door without acknowledging the others, Joker slipped the ring onto his finger, feeling a similar sort of energy that Bicorn used flow through him. Opening the door, Joker saw no more Shadows in sight, instead being greeted by a dimly lit hallway with two doors on either side at the end leading left and right. 

“The hell?” Joker couldn’t stop himself from muttering as he pushed open the door on the left only to find another stairwell, only with a large portion of the stairs taken out.

“Uhhh, I don’t think we’re goin’ any further this way...” Skull said as Joker took a look around the room. The only thing that caught his eye was a small bust of a ram hanging above the staircase well above the five, but nothing else that seemed remotely important. 

“Look up there! Joker, do you see it?” Mona asked excitedly, pointing at the exact bust Joker had noticed.

“What about it?”   
“Here, give me your arm!” Joker’s eyes narrowed at the cat for a brief moment before relinquishing his arm, bending over so the cat could reach whatever he was grabbing up to him. “There!” With a small clink, Joker felt Mona push and lock a small contraption onto his arm and slip it underneath his sleeve. “Seems to fit perfectly!”

“What is this thing?” Joker asked idly, staring at the strange box on his wrist and spotting a sharp object through a small hole at the front. “A… grappling hook?”

“Bingo! Thieves work stylishly, and you should be able to zip around to places in a flash with that!”

“What about the rest of us?” Skull asked, obviously noticing the lack of grappling hooks for the rest of them.

“We’ll just have to hold on tight to Joker. I made sure the hook is strong enough to hold us all! Alright, let’s go Joker!”

‘Is this really the only way? Fine…’ 

“None of you move.” As he spoke, Joker spun around and shot his left arm upwards, letting the grappling hook wizz out towards the golden ram’s head. With a satisfying clink, the hook locked onto the hoop in the ram’s nose, and Joker looked over at Violet.

“Wh-what, Joker-senp-AH!” Joker shut his eyes to prevent his headache from getting any worse as he suddenly grabbed Violet’s wrist, eliciting the loud response from the redhead. “Any of you grab on too tight, and I’ll leave you behind.”

“This… feels weird,” Panther said as Joker felt the other three grab onto him, all varying degrees of roughness.

“Whatever,” Joker let out as he opened his eyes, gritting his teeth as Skull’s arm pressed into his chest, pain flaring up from the mysterious wounds. With a click of a button at the base of his hand, Joker felt his arm, and subsequently his entire body, being yanked upwards at incredible speeds.

“Whoa!” The rest of the group shouted into Joker's ear, causing his headache to flair up again, but luckily his feet hit solid ground as the grappling hook unlatched itself and returned back into Joker's sleeve. 

“Dude, that was awesome! It was like a scene from a superhero movie!”

“I guess anything is possible in here if you can think it, huh?”

“I honestly didn’t expect you to cooperate like that, Joker!”

Joker’s eyes closed again as he stuck his hands into his pockets and began walking down the stairs towards the next open doorway. His patience was running razor thin; he needed to get out of the palace.

“Oh thank god, one of these rooms,” Joker muttered as he was staring at a shifting door to his right, signifying the presence of a safe room, and began making his way towards it nonchalantly.

“Hey Joker, that Shadow looks pretty vicious up the–”

“I noticed. We’re done for the day.” Joker stopped Mona mid sentence as he pushed his way into the safe room, Violet quickly following behind him with three sets of footsteps and a soft click following soon after.

“Well, if we are done for the day, I have another trick up my sleeve! Just watch, alright?” Joker turned his attention at the monster cat’s huge grin as he scurried over to the corner of the room and pressed his paw into a stone slab. 

“Huh?” Joker uttered in shock, turning fully towards the newly opened up section of wall revealing a sort of elevator.

“I didn’t mention this before because the safe room was near the entrance of the building, but they are all interconnected with one another through these passageways! Which means that we can go from safe room to safe room in no time flat!” Mona had his paws on his sides with a huge, self-satisfying grin on his face, clearly expecting some sort of praise. However, as Joker just looked at the cat without any words, the grin on his face vanished into a sort of pout before his face returned to normalcy. “That’s another reason why it’s a good idea to go into these safe rooms; even if we don’t need to rest or talk about anything, it’s a good idea to open these up whenever we can. Anyways, we’re all set for today, right?”

“Wait a sec, we’re leavin’ already? But I didn’t get to do anything today!” Skull complained as he took a step towards Joker.

“Do more next time, then,” was Joker’s only response to the indignant blond as he approached the hole in the wall and crouched down. However, as he did so, the hole grew suddenly to match Joker’s standing height.

“Cognition again, I presume…” Joker muttered to himself, receiving a nod from the black cat to his side as he entered into the stony makeshift elevator, ignoring the loud grumblings of the blond behind him. “Violet, let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told y'all this chapter was basically finished! Just wanted to make sure it was well written and all that before posting. There's a lot more explaining about mechanics from the game, so if you have any questions/comments about how it works or how I can improve it, please let me know in the comments. Or if you like it the way it is, you can also tell me in the comments, that's also appreciated. Hopefully this marks a return to writing for me(I'll have the people on the Church discord server hold me to that), and I hope you all are doing well and staying safe! Till next update!


	12. Deeper into the Palace of Lust

_ “Kid, are you getting into trouble?” _

_ “No.” _

_ “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you moving around like that. If something did happen and you aren’t telling me about it, you’re out.” _

_ “I know.” _

“You there…! Take a look at this.” Akira blinked a few times, Sojiro’s voice still in his head as he looked up to see the black haired biology teacher staring directly at him, and let out an undetectable sigh as he straightened himself. 

‘Dammit… Why today of all days?’ Akira groaned internally before looking at the chalkboard behind the teacher which showed an acute angle with two lines labelled “A” and “B” parallel to one another. “Between A and B… which line seems longer...?”

“They’re the same,” Akira answered, resting his head back onto his hand without bothering to wait to hear if his answer was correct or not. The headache from the previous day had been gone ever since leaving the palace, but the mental exhaustion he was under made concentrating on anything a difficult task in and of itself.

“Heh, that’s correct. It seems your eyes see the truth. This is an optic…”

Akira’s eyes became unfocused as he directed his gaze back outside, ignoring completely the rest of the man’s lecture as the class broke out into whispers of amazement. However, something caught his attention from the corner of his eyes as he stared out the window; Takamaki’s shoulders were tense, and Akira could see that she was shaking slightly. 

However, before he could wonder why she was like that, Akira shook his head once as he felt his eyes begin to drop. ‘I really went overboard yesterday and the enemies keep getting tougher as I go. I won’t be able to go that far if I make mistakes like that. Although, I felt stronger as I continued to fight, especially at the end of yesterday.’ 

The class had calmed down by that point and the teacher was facing the chalkboard, so Akira fully closed his eyes to let himself rest. ‘There’s also the fact that I felt a surge of power after a Shadow fell to the ground… Hitting Shadow’s weak points, if I remember Morgana correctly. Having multiple Personas that can cover a wide range of enemy weaknesses will be useful…’

As the teacher continued to chatter and lecture the class, Akira focused inward , feeling the five Personas floating within his psyche. ‘I did that fusion thing with Igor before leaving the Metaverse, losing Pixie and Agathion, but now I have something called Genbu. Affinity for… ice. That’ll be useful.’

Arsene, Mandrake, Jack-o-Lantern, Bicorn, and now Genbu; those were the five that Akira had piled up. After the infiltration and before going to sleep, Akira used the little quiet time he had to think through what he knew so far about Personas and Shadows, ending the night focusing on the Personas he had.

‘All things considered, Arsene is my strongest at the moment, but I need to watch out for any ice or light attacks, or whatever Sumire uses. During lunch I should note what I know so far; who knows, it might save me some trouble later on.’

* * *

“Senpai!”

“Hm?” Akira looked up from the pile of scraps in front of him to see Sumire jogging towards him, the rooftop door closing behind her. “Don’t you have practice today?”

“Yeah, but I wanted to see you today to make sure you were alright. You weren’t in the cafeteria or up here during lunch, so I kinda got worried.” 

“I was doing something,” Akira responded, returning to the scrap pile in front of him to the immediate left of the pile was a few lockpicks Akira had crafted.

“Doing what?” Sumire asked, her light footsteps getting closer to Akira before he could feel her stop just over his shoulder. 

Instead of answering, Akira put down the small tools he took off of the desk in the attic and reached into his bag next to him on the ground, pulling out the small journal Sojiro had given him. 

“Metaverse… rules? Senpai, did you write all of this down during lunch?”

“Yeah,” Akira nodded as he pushed the journal to the side and returned to work, gingerly placing a glob of plant balm into the center of a thick piece of parchment and began wrapping it into a ball.

“‘Gen...bu is strong against an unknown element and blocks any ice attack, but is weak to electric based attacks.’ Senpai, what is a Genbu?”

For a brief moment, Akira’s hands stopped moving and his eyes widened slightly; he just realized that talking about the Velvet Room was a bad idea, but there wasn’t a lie believable enough that he could make up on the spot. “I’m able to take two Personas I have and fuse them together into a new persona.”

“W-wait, really? That’s incredible, Akira-senpai!” Hopefully unbeknownst to Sumire, Akira let out a small sigh of relief as he set aside another parchment ball next to his lockpicks, ignoring the small but sharp pain that made its way through his head. 

‘At least she’s not pressing me on it,’ Akira thought, picking up a finished ball and throwing it up and catching it to make sure it wouldn’t break easily.

“Are these for infiltrating as well?” Sumire asked, her red locks in Akira’s peripheral vision as he slid the finished products into an empty compartment of his bag and nodded.

“Yeah.”

“...What’re those balls for?”

“Apparently they’re Vanish Balls, or so Morgana calls them, but I’m not sure how plants in parchment creates something like that…” Akira shook his head as he returned his hands back up to his scraps, grabbing two more pieces of plant balm along with an empty glass bottle. “Morgana said this is… Stealthanol, and that it helps us hide better even when not under cover. Might be useful…”

“How much have you made today, Senpai?” Sumire’s voice made Akira jump slightly, not realizing that he had just been speaking out loud. Quickly regaining his composure, Akira scraped the ointment into the bottle and flipped the cap back on, sliding that as well into his bag.

“Enough,” Akira responded, getting to his feet and turning towards Sumire. “Shouldn’t you be going soon?”

“O-oh… Right, I should,” Sumire answered, her red eyes lowering to the ground. “U-um, could you w-walk with me to the e-entrance, Senpai?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” In one motion, Akira reached down and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he made his way towards the roof door before stopping and looking over towards Sumire, who wasn’t moving from her spot. “Are you coming?” 

Akira didn’t know why Sumire was fidgeting with her skirt or why her cheeks had turned a dull shade of pink, but didn’t bother lingering on the topic as she quickly followed after him, his journal still in her hands. “H-here, Senpai.”

“Thanks.” Akira nodded towards his strangely nervous friend as he took his journal from her and slipped it into his bag before slinging it back over his shoulder, and the two made their way down the stairs.

“H-hey, Senpai?”

Akira stopped on the second floor as he saw Sumire stop suddenly next to him, and turned to see an extremely fidgety Sumire. “Yeah?”   
“A-are you okay? Today, I mean.”

Akira tilted his head to the side before realizing what Sumire meant and nodded. “The wounds seemed to have fully healed, or at least they’re not bothering me at all anymore. Why?”

“O-oh…” Akira’s eyebrows rose slightly as Sumire began straightening out her skirt, and noticed that a few students were staring at them. “W-well… I just… don’t want something like that happening again…” Sumire’s voice became tinier and tinier as she spoke, forcing Akira to strain his ears but managing to catch what she said. All he could do was stare at Sumire, her face distorted with worry as she continued on. “P-please be safe, okay?”

“Yeah,” Akira said as he nodded his head, unsure of what exactly to say in response. He wasn’t expecting Sumire to be so shaken about what happened to him, and he certainly wasn’t expecting her to ask him that. 

An awkward silence fell between the two teens as Akira followed Sumire down the stairs, getting back in step with her after reaching the first floor. “U-um... I’m sorry S-Senpai, but I really need to hurry to practice…”

“I’m going to stay here anyways, so don’t worry about it.” Akira waved Sumire off as he saw her beginning to turn towards him, and he saw her face drop slightly before she nodded.

“A-alright. We’re going in tomorrow after school, correct?”

“Yeah, make sure you sleep well tonight.”   
“Right! Bye, Senpai!” Sumire exclaimed suddenly, jogging towards the front doors and waving behind at Akira as he held up his hand and nodded once, and began pivoting on his heels as she ran down the steps outside and left his field of vision. However, as he turned to go back up to the roof to continue working, he froze. At the end of the hall, walking directly towards him, was Kamoshida. Akira could see a shit eating grin hiding just beneath the charming smile Kamoshida was flashing at students as he made his way down the hall.

It was infuriating seeing the students happily greeting Kamoshida back as he strode down the hall, but Akira continued turning towards the staircase, trying to ignore the heavy footsteps growing closer and closer to him. 

“Oh, didn’t know you were right there.” Akira stumbled to the side as Kamoshida roughly pushed him, barely keeping himself on his feet as he grit his teeth. “I swore there was nothing there, but it turns out it was just trash like you, not like there’s much of a difference.”

Having to close his eyes to keep himself calm, Akira tried again to walk towards the staircase, but yet again he hit against Kamoshida and stumbled backwards. ‘Calm down… Don’t let this asshole get to you…’ Akira had to tell himself as his hands twitched and his fingers began to curl into a fist.

“What, are you gonna be like that blond and take a swing at me? Didn’t he tell you how well that went for him, or is the Track Traitor keeping secrets from his pal?” Kamoshida taunted, his breath hitting Akira’s face as the teen looked downwards.

“We aren’t friends,” Akira said as calmly as possible, making sure to keep the shakiness out of his voice as he reopened his eyes to see Kamoshida’s full shit eating grin right in front of his face.

“Oh? Is only that Yoshizawa girl your friend here? All the students here are saying she’s cu–”

“I know what they say. Let me through,” Akira growled, the back of his head beginning to prickle as he stood his ground.

“Brat, shouldn’t you know not to interrupt teachers?! Someone ought to teach you a lesson around here!” Kamoshida took another step forward, blocking off Akira’s path to the staircase even more as he was being backed into the corner of the hall.

“Woah, is Kamoshida gonna fight with that transfer student?”

“I hope he beats the shit out of him…”

“Yeah, would give us all a lot of peace of mind. Go Kamoshida!”

‘Tch… Of course none of them would take my side. Even if they’re scared of him, they’re still being played for fools.’ Akira never took his eyes off of Kamoshida as the man’s eggplant shaped head continued inching towards him, and it took everything Akira had not to shove his balled up fist into Kamoshida’s face.

“Scum like you aren’t wanted here. Just like Sakamoto, just like that bitch Yoshizawa. I’ll make sure none of you get your grimy hands onto this school.” Akira’s body shook violently for a second as he held himself back, and Kamoshida raised an eyebrow. “Did I say something that bothered you?”

“Hey, back away from him, asshat!”

Akira tore his eyes off of Kamoshida as he flipped around to see Sakamoto walking towards them, a pissed off look in his eyes. “What the hell are you doing here, Sakamoto? Trying to stick up for your buddy here? Well, I hate to break it to you, but he already sa–”

“I know we ain’t friends, but I’m not standing around while you got someone in a corner like this,” Sakamoto cut off Kamoshida, taking another step towards the man and staring adamantly into his eyes.

“Oh shit, Sakamoto is here too?”

“He and the transfer student are teaming up now?”

“Man, we’re screwed if that’s the case…”

Akira noticed Kamoshida’s shoulders tense for a brief moment before relaxing again, but was far more concentrated on the fact that someone actually came to his defense. “What are you going to do about it? Try and assault me again?”   
“What was that?” Sakamoto asked, his voice almost a growl as he stared up at Kamoshida.

“Scum like you two shouldn’t have any right to roam these halls, but the good principal is allowing you two to stay as long as you’re on your best behavior. Don’t make the same mistake twice, Sakamoto, or how would your dad feel?”

Akira barely knew what he was doing as he found himself next to Sakamoto, holding tightly onto his wrist and keeping his fist away from Kamoshida’s face, mere inches away. Two looks of shock were directed at him as he pushed Sakamoto’s hand down. “Dude, why’re you stopping me?”

“Oh? Unexpected from the transfer student! Now, if only you could always show that level of restraint, you wouldn’t be in this position to begin with.”

Akira breathed in deep before taking a step forward, not bothering to look back at Kamoshida. “Let’s go,” was all he said to Sakamoto as he passed by and began climbing up the stairs. His heart and mind were racing from the encounter with the teacher, adrenaline beginning to flow through his veins as he quickly made his way up to the roof, heavy footsteps behind him belonging to Sakamoto.

“Hey… what’s up?”

Akira closed his eyes as he leaned against the collapsable table on the roof, calming himself down with a few deep breaths as Sakamoto’s gaze stayed on him. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t sure why he brought Sakamoto up to the roof with him. He was planning on coming back up here to get some peace and quiet, but after what just happened with Kamoshida…

“Hey dude! What’s going on?” 

Akira’s eyes flashed open as Sakamoto sounded legitimately concerned, standing a few feet in front of him with his hands in his pockets. His shoulders were tense and Akira could see his hands balled into fists in his pockets.

‘Track Traitor… What does that mean?’ Akira shouldn’t have cared at all, but now that it was in his mind he couldn’t get the thought out. ‘What’s between him and Kamoshida?’

“If you got nothin’ to say to me, I’m gonna head out since we’re not going in today. See y–”

“Wait.”

Sakamoto stopped just as he was turning back to the rooftop door and looked back at Akira, who was standing straight after pushing off of the table. “What’s up with you and Kamoshida?”

“Huh? Why you wanna know that?” Sakamoto fully turned back towards Akira and pulled his hands out of his pockets, shock written across his face.

Akira didn’t say anything in response, instead just keeping his face emotionless as he stared into Sakamoto’s eyes, and eventually the blond shrugged and let out a heavy sigh as he moved to and sat down at the table, Akira doing the same.

“Not sure what’s gotten into you, but fine. You may not have known this, but we used to have a track team here and I was a part of it last year. Pretty damn fast, and I loved runnin’. Our coach was pretty friggn’ great too, pushing us all to be our best, and a good number of us did well Before the season even ended we all knew this year was going to be even better, but… I fucked it up.”

More and more, as Sakamoto spoke, Akira leaned forward onto the table, resting his head on his hands. Sakamoto was looking down at the table, his hands clenched into fists and turning white as he was clearly gritting his teeth.

“Kamoshida didn’t like that we were doing good and stealin’ attention away from the Volleyball teams, so he fired our coach and watched over our practices instead. The bastard didn’t even pretend to coach us, instead putting us through hell and back. I should’ve kept my head down and endured it like everyone else, but I couldn’t take it anymore and…”

“You hit him?” Sakamoto looked up at Akira and nodded after a brief moment of their eyes locking.

“Yeah, and the bastard broke my leg in ‘self defense’, but you heard what his Shadow said. But I still ruined everyone else’s chances of going to nationals, ruined my chances of helping out my mom with a scholarship. Dammit, and he’s still walkin’ around like he owns the place down there! It makes me effin sic–”   
“We’ll change that,” Akira calmly interrupted Sakamoto, who had knocked over his chair after springing to his feet. 

“Y-yeah, sorry about that man…” Sakamoto rubbed the back of his head, looking down at the ground sheepishly as he picked his chair back up and sat back down. Akira waved him off and shook his head before finding the blond looking back at him. “Hey… Kurusu, right? Why did you want me to come up here with you?”

“Needed a way to get away from Kamoshida, and didn’t need any more attention drawn to us,” Akira answered plainly, even though that wasn’t the full reason why he grabbed Sakamoto.

“Right… Hey,” Sakamoto stopped getting to his feet and looked expectantly at Akira, and his stomach dropped slightly as he knew exactly what was coming. “What about you? What’s your beef with Kamoshida?”

Akira hadn’t fully thought out the reason why he hated the man so much; he was obviously a wicked, evil person who preyed on the students, but why should he care about them? “Don’t you remember when we went into his office? He leaked all my information through that blue haired kid.”

“You mean your record? Wouldn’t that have spread either way?”

“Probably, but…”

_ Everyday has been hell for you because of him... _

_ You can teach him a true lesson... _

**_Just give me your word, and we can beg–_ **

“Dude, are you okay?!” Sakamoto exclaimed, breaking Akira from his trance as he blinked slowly at the blond. Beads of sweat were rolling down his face and dripping onto the table, and his headache had returned.

“Y-yeah…” Akira managed to get out, gritting his teeth to dull the pain building in his head. However, it was clear he didn’t convince Sakamoto as the blond leaned forward onto the table.

“You don’t look so hot. Oh shit, my bad!” Sakamoto suddenly exclaimed, a flash of realization crossing his face as he sat back into his seat as Akira’s face morphed into a scowl. The two fell silent, and Akira closed his eyes as his headache began dying down.

“It’s… fine,” Akira said after a few moments of silence, opening his eyes to see Sakamoto staring back at him once again and began to stand up.

“...Alright. Hey, can I ask one more thing before you go?” Sakamoto also began to stand up, and the two stopped after taking a step towards the exit.

“I guess.”

“Why’re you so close with that Yoshizawa girl but distant from me and Ann?”

Akira closed his eyes; he knew the reason, but did Sakamoto need to know that at the moment? “I trust her. Make sure you’re ready tomorrow, Sakamoto.” Nothing else needed to be said as Akira moved to the roof door, bag slung over his shoulder and the remnants of his headache still lingering.

He felt exhausted. From the encounter with Kamoshida to talking with Sakamoto, Akira was completely drained and collapsed on the bed after setting down his bag on the floor next to it.

“Long day?” Morgana’s voice asked from Akira’s left, assumedly on the windowsill, but Akira didn’t bother lifting his head to see as he grunted in affirmation. “I looked at that map you found yesterday, and it seems like we’re reaching the end of it already. Hopefully there’s another we can grab soon.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh! Before I forget to ask, how did you find all the solutions so fast in the Palace yesterday?”

“It was easy.”

Morgana fell silent, and Akira could tell that the cat was waiting for him to continue on, but heard a light sigh from the left and thud following soon after. “Well, I’m sure you have your reasons. How many tools did you craft after school?”

“Two more lockpicks, two of those stealth balls you told me about, and one Stealthanol, or whatever it’s called.”

“You got busy! We should definitely use those for sure tomorrow, especially if we want to avoid fighting all that much!”

Akira finally lifted himself off the bed after Morgana’s comment, pushing himself onto his rear and his eyes locked onto the cat. “Morgana, do we get stronger after every fight?”

“Hm? What do you mean?” The cat tilted his head to the side, giving Akira the closest to an inquisitive look a cat could give.

“While we were leaving the Palace yesterday, I could feel my personas more prominently in my mind, even through the mental exhaustion I was under.”

“Hmm…” Morgana began walking in a circle in the middle of the room, eyes focused as Akira waited for his answer. “I would say that it makes sense. If we’re going with the running metaphor I used yesterday, it would be like getting faster and faster after every run, only the progress is more pronounced in the Metaverse.”

“So I’m going to have to strike a balance between fighting and avoiding enemies… Though, it shouldn’t be that hard to avoid them knowing what I know now.” Akira leaned against the windowsill next to his bed, wincing slightly at the small pain shooting throughout his back. ‘Dammit, just go away already!’

“Akira?”

“I’m fine,” Akira said before Morgana could continue and forced himself off the bed, sitting down at the desk and pulling out his books.

* * *

“Hey, that strong looking Shadow is still there, Joker? What should we do about it?”

“Leave it for now,” Joker responded to the cat, turning to his right and dashed to the other side of the hall and approached a door at the end of the hall. “There’s a Shadow in here. Be ready to fight.”

The day leading up to the infiltration was dull and boring, but that was what Joker preferred. It gave him the opportunity to concentrate on infiltration more, and he got an opportunity to look over the map of the floor during lunch. 

‘That door where that strong looking Shadow is patrolling looked like it was controlled by one of those loop mechanisms, but I definitely wouldn’t be able to use it. There was a small indentation next to the mechanism, which more likely than not means I have to find a key of some sorts. Better to look around now.’

“Keep close, Violet!” Joker whispered behind him, looking back to see Violet nod enthusiastically. However, behind her he also saw a certain sharpness in Skull’s eyes that was previously absent two days ago, but shook off the thought as he creaked open the door and peered inside. “Only one Shadow to fight… easy.”

His knife flashing into his hand and Genbu at the forefront of his mind, Joker zipped from table to table, the Shadow not suspecting a thing as it looked uselessly around the room, before springing effortlessly onto the Shadow’s shoulders and ripping off its mask as it cried out in surprise.

“Another one of those strange horse Shadows…” Joker said aloud as he slid back towards the open door, kicking off from the ground as soon as he came to a halt. “Genbu!”

With a flash of blue flames, a blue shelled turtle with a red dragon coming from its behind and swirling above it touched down on the ground next to Joker. It’s eyes flashed a cool blue as Joker rushed past his Persona and towards the still stunned Shadow, but jumped to the side as a large ball of ice began growing from nothing in front of the Shadow. With a loud shatter, the ball of ice broke upon touching the Shadow’s chest, all of the shards of ice impaling the Shadow at once.

“Dammit… Still standing?” Joker cursed as the cold air was suddenly and forcefully blown away, revealing the demonic red eyes of the horse Shadow staring hatefully at Joker, barely a scratch on it.

“Cendrillon!” As Shadow seemed about ready to charge towards Joker, the room was filled with light as two orbs manifested and began spinning around the Shadow, coming closer as it looked for a way out. However, there was none as the two orbs collided, eliciting a paine grunt from the Shadow as it floated backwards, rage deep in its eyes.

“Mona!” Joker yelled over to the cat, who’s large head swiveled to match his gaze. “We can’t waste time or energy on this weakling. What’s its weak point?”

“I don’t know! We just need to keep attacking!” Mona responded from where he was standing at the door.

“I got this, man!” As Joker was going to call back Genbu and summon Arsene, a streak of electricity shot straight through the Shadow, ripping through its green body and leaving it hanging monetarily in the air before it floated lifelessly to the floor and disintegrated into nothing. 

“Woah, nice one Skull! You took it out!” Mona exclaimed as Joker let go of his knife, meeting Violet’s eyes as she did the same with her rapier.

“Yeah, I didn’t even have to do anything,” Panther added on, casually walking towards, and then with, Skull and Mona into the center of the room

“Oh, uh… thanks.” Skull rubbed the back of his head abashedly, a slight smile on his face. 

“Violet, does this room feel off?”

“Joker-senpai?” Violet tilted her head to the side as Joker walked past her and towards the large bookshelf spanning the back wall and concentrated upwards, opening his third eye.

“There’s… a book?” Joker muttered as his eyes fell upon a strange glowing book with its cover facing outwards in front of the other books.

“The… Queen book?” Violet said right over Joker’s shoulder as he grabbed it, her red flowing hair in his peripheries. “Senpai, what do you think this book is for?”

“It’s impossible to know without exploring more.” Tucking the book away into his coat, Joker turned back to the door and walked back out into the hallway, Violet right on his heels. However, as he walked past the three others, he caught the same serious look in Skull’s eyes; something had definitely changed in him. However, Joker blinked the thought away and began walking down the hallway, dodging past another Shadow as he dashed from chair to chair, sitting by a corner of the hallway to look back towards Violet.

“There’s a room up ahead, another Shadow as well inside,” he mouthed towards the girl, and thankfully she nodded her head, her eyes glinting with a serious look in them beneath her mask. Before entering today, Joker had memorized the map of the area which also listed the areas in which Shadows were posted, proving more useful than previously expected. 

‘Two Shadows within it…’ Joker’s mind landed on Arsene as he stared at the Shadow trudging aimlessly within the room, humming the same dull tone that was threatening to get stuck in his head. Feeling Violet dash to right behind him with the glint of her rapier just in the corner of his eye, Joker slipped into the room and behind the nearest wooden table.

Violet never left his side, and within moments the other three dashed into the room as well, all managing to squeeze behind the small table. “What’s the plan, Joker?” Mona asked in a hushed tone.

“We fight. Don’t use too much energy,” Joker responded and, without waiting for a response, tore off the Shadows mask, revealing a Pixie and one of those Shadows with a spiked pelvis. “Eiha!”

Joker knew that Pixie was vulnerable to cursed attacks, the Shadow wailing in pain as the dark energy coursed around and in it, leaving it near dead on the ground.

“Wait, Joker! Try calling out to Violet!” Mona stopped Joker as he began reaching up for his mask again, feeling a small rush of energy flow through him as he stared down the other dazed Shadow. His eyes darted towards Violet to his right and met her red eyes with confusion clear in the orbs, but he simply nodded.

“Violet!” The instant Joker called her name, he felt the rush of power within him fade, and his mask flashed back onto his face as Arsene returned into his mind.

“Wh-what?!” Violet stammered, causing Joker to look over at her to see the redhead looking down at her hands in astonishment.

“Violet, no time! Just take out the remaining Shadow that’s left standing and then I’ll explain!” Mona ordered, and Joker saw as Violet nodded immediately and tore her mask off. He blinked in amazement as Cendrillion burst from the large blue flames pillaring in front of Violet, more energy emanating from the Persona than usual.

"Cendrillon!" Just as the Shadow’s pelvis began glowing, the blue skinned Persona shot towards it and slammed two glowing balls of light into its small chest. 

‘It didn’t seem like she’s under any mental strain… What the hell was that?’ Joker shook his head as the brief wails of the doomed Shadow were cut off as the light faded, revealing nothing but wisps of dust floating where it once floated, and dropped his knife in favor for his pistol and directed it at the gravely wounded Pixie.

“Violet, you two!” Joker called out, receiving a nod from Violet but blank stares from the two blondes as the three of them surrounded the Shadow. “All out Attack, now!” Just then, a flash of realization crossed their faces as Joker and Violet leapt into the air, Joker’s knife flashing back into existence as he plummeted back towards the completely helpless Pixie. 

Along with the gleam from Violet’s rapier cutting into and through the frail body of the Shadow, Joker saw a whip and a metal bar hit against it, along with the two blondes dashing around him and Violet. 

“Hmph.” Joker landed a few feet away from the Shadow, hearing the others do the same around him, and readjusted his gloves as the Shadow burst into black blood and dust.

“Woah… I didn’t know what you were talking about there for a second, but that was effing sweet dude!” Skull exclaimed, rushing towards Joker with puppy-like excitement.

“Now you know,” Joker responded dryly, walking past the blond and towards yet another bookshelf. 

“The… Beefcake Book?” Violet asked in a nearly incredulous tone, Joker seeing her face squish into a frown right next to him. “Is that really important?”

“Who knows,” Joker said, nonetheless putting the book into his coat.

“If Joker’s picking them up I’m sure they have some use. We just have to keep looking around,” Mona commented as the two teens in black began walking towards the door, Joker nodding towards the cat before stopping.

“Mona, what did Violet and I just do earlier?”

“Oh that! I like to call that a ‘Baton Pass’! A way to not only transfer that power you get but also to amplify it!” Mona bounced excitedly in front of Joker and Violet.

“Baton Pass?” Joker met Violet’s eyes and allowed himself to look confused before shifting his attention back to Mona, the cat still bouncing in front of them.

“Yeah! I’m not entirely sure how it works, but I do know that it requires a certain amount of trust between the two to achieve it!”

“So why did Joker-senpai need to yell out my name?” Violet asked, and Joker narrowed his eyes as he saw a slight smile on her face. 

“Oh, that was just the first thing I thought of. Anything to symbolize that trust would do. Maybe a high five would be simpler?”

“We can think about that later, but for now we need to keep going,” Joker said abruptly, walking towards and through the door, Violet keeping close behind him.

‘That’s going to be useful for sure.’

“One small room remaining over here…” Joker muttered to himself, dashing low to the ground due to the lack of Shadows and silently creaking the door open. “No Shadows inside.”

“Hey, there’s another one of those books you’ve been picking up!” Skull nearly shouted behind Joker, and he froze. A few moments of silence followed, telling Joker that none of the Shadows were alerted to them, and he let out the small breath he was holding. “What was that abo- Ow! Stop doing that!”

“You idiot! He stopped because you were being so loud!” Panther admonished Skull, and Joker was expecting another argument to break out as he and Violet approached the strange book set up differently than the rest. 

“R-right, my bad,” Skull whispered, a first for the blond in Joker’s mind. Joker’s eyebrows rose slightly, something only Violet could see, before grabbing the glowing book off the bookshelf, his third eye open.

“The Slave Book… I don’t like the sound of that, Senpai.”

“Queen, Slave, and Beefcake… That doesn’t sound right,” Joker said, slipping the book into his coat and pulling out the map. “There’s only one hallway and a large room left to explore on this map. Let’s go.”

With a nod from Violet, Joker made his way to and pushed open the door leading into the hallway, immediately finding cover behind a chair. ‘That Shadow really is bad news… We can probably beat it, but it’ll take too much out of us to really be worth it,’ Joker thought as he stared at the bulky Shadow trudging up and down the hallway in front of the gated door. ‘There’s also that keyhole I saw earlier. I was right to not bother with it then.’

Turning around, Joker dashed from chair to chair until he was peering down the larger hallway leading towards the final large room, another strong Shadow patrolling up and down it. “Senpai, should we fight it?”

“No.” Joker dashed up to the door as the Shadow’s back was to him, but didn’t open it as the Shadow seemed to perk up.

“Thought I saw something… Just my imagination,” Joker heard the Shadow mutter, and closed his eyes. ‘These ones seem more alert… It’ll definitely notice the door open after we all get in, and we’ll have to fight anyways. Wait a sec…’

Reaching into his coat, Joker’s gloved hand wrapped around a rough sphere and pulled out one of his two vanish balls he crafted yesterday. He caught Violet’s questioning gaze as he gripped the orb tightly, and as the Shadow turned back towards the chest he threw the ball at the ground. Immediately a cloud of smoke covered Joker and the surrounding area, and he slipped through the door after cracking it open slightly.

“Huh? What’s this smoke doing here?” 

Joker froze about three paces in the large room, what seemed to be a library, as he heard heavy footsteps approach the door. However, beneath the loud footsteps he heard four much lighter enter into the room and turned around just in time to see Mona jump up and close the door.

“Hm… Nothing over here. Have to keep my eyes sharp.” Joker relaxed as he heard the Shadow begin to move away from the door and turned away from the four others, feeling Violet’s presence grow closer to him as he looked around the large library.

“A library, huh? This definitely seems fishy,” Mona commented as the five spread out into the room, Joker and Violet moving towards a pile of books on the furthest desk from the entrance.

“Whaddaya mean?” Skull asked, his voice somewhat distant as Joker looked around the room, opening his third eye during the process.

“C’mon, it’s a library in a castle. There has to be some sort of secret mechanism here.”   
“Senpai, what are you looking at?” Violet asked as Joker reached out and picked up another glowing book sitting atop the dusty pile of books. “The King Book? Wait Senpai, are those…?”

Joker knew where Violet was going with her question as she looked around the room, his eyes landing on glowing gaps between books on the bookshelves.

“Did you find something, Joker?” Mona asked, three sets of footsteps approaching from behind Joker as he stopped in front of the nearest glowing area. 

“There’s all sorts of books here… The titles don’t have any rhyme or reason to the– Wait, what? This book… has Shiho’s name in the title,” Panther gasped, and Joker saw her body tense up, similarly to yesterday in class. “Wait… it’s not just this one! All of the books here are about female students!”

“ _ Ann Takamaki: The Charming Doll _ . Holy shit…” Skull said to Joker’s left, but Joker felt his stomach drop as he stared at a book right in front of his eyes, the title crossed out. 

~~_ Sumire Yoshizawa: The Slutty Dancer. _ ~~

“Senpai?” Violet timidly spoke behind Joker, and Joker blinked away the red encroaching in his vision. “We picked up some books earlier, didn’t we? Should we try and put them in?”

“Y-yeah,” Joker said, biting the inside of his cheek as he pulled out the Queen Book from his coat. His entire body was tense, and Joker felt like throwing up. Seeing and hearing what Kamoshida thought of others was outside of Joker’s realm of caring, but seeing that book...

“Hey, I heard a click somewhere!” Mona said excitedly, snapping Joker out of his daze.

“But nothin’s happening,” Skull mentioned, clearly unaware of the slight shaking of Joker’s body as he began turning towards the center of the room.

“There’s two more open slots,” Joker said as calmly as possible, feeling Violet’s eyes on his back as he moved towards the next glowing spot in the bookshelf to his left.

“Let’s see…  _ The History of Kamoshida… Tracing Kamoshida’s steps… Kamoshida’s Heroisms… Kamoshida’s Law? _ The hell!? All these goddamn books’re about Kamoshida!” Skull yelled right next to Joker, who reached in and grabbed the King Book.

“Oh, another click! We only have two more books, right Joker?” Mona asked as Joker turned and spotted the final glowing area across the room, giving a small nod towards the cat.

“Wait a sec… these are the names of the guys on the volleyball team! Hold on a sec… all the titles are boys from out school!”

“ _ Ryuji Sakamoto: The Vulgar Ape.  _ There’s one here for Skull.”

“That bastard! Who the hell does he think he is!?”

As Skull was busy cussing out the non-present Kamoshida, Akira slipped the Slave Book into the opening, and instantly a rumbling noise was heard from their left.

“The hell?” Skull shouted as Joker spun towards the now shifting bookcase as it slid backwards and began sliding to the left, revealing a small room that immediately set Joker on edge, but he nevertheless took a step towards it. However, he stopped as he didn’t feel Violet following behind him and looked back to see all the color drained from her face.

“Violet,” Joker called out, but the girl didn’t respond as her eyes were glued onto the bookshelf. Turning on his heels, Joker approached the redhead who didn’t even acknowledge his presence, and followed her gaze to one specific book.

_ Akira Kurusu: True Scum. _

Joker let out a small sigh and placed his hand over the spine of the book, covering the title and he saw Violet flinch as the light came back into her eyes. “J-Joker-Senpai!?”

“Don’t let it get to you,” Joker said, knowing full well he was being hypocritical, but he needed Violet in top shape. However, it was clear Violet was still shaken as she turned towards Joker, her lips trembling somewhat and her eyes full of fear and disgust. 

“He… None of them even know you like I do… How can he even believe that without getting to know who you are?!” Violet said, her voice quiet but Joker could tell she was holding herself back.

“Violet, snap out of it!” Joker barked, leaning towards Violet and snapping inches away from her face and eliciting a surprised yelp. 

“B-but…!”

“What he thinks of us means nothing. All things considered, he’s what real scum is.” Joker calmed his own heart as he stared at Violet, returning his eyes to their normal state.

“A-alright… I’m sor–”

“Don’t be,” Joker interrupted Violet before she could apologize, waving his hand over his shoulder as he turned back towards the newly revealed room. “We need to go now.”

Joker heard Violet slowly approach him from behind and felt her closer to him than before, but he didn’t mind as he walked towards the other three already in the new room.

“-ait… it’s all pics of Suzui?”

“...”

Joker’s body shook slightly as he looked around the new room; picture upon picture of the girl who tried to commit suicide were plastered on the wall and scattered across the floor. The sick feeling he had in his gut grew as he continued looking around the room, and he noticed Panther was noticeably shaken from the room, her hands balled into fists and her jaw tightened. “He’ll pay,” was all he said as he locked onto a small shelving unit to his left, a glint of metal catching his eyes.

“Y-yeah…” Panther responded, and Joker could feel the unease within the room as he reached the shelving unit.

“Another map and… a medal,” Joker muttered as slipped the medal into his coat, feeling it disappear nearly instantly as he scanned the map.

“Nicely done, Joker! Our map is complete now!”

“So is it gonna tell us where the treasure is?” Skull asked as the rest of the group moved around Joker, peering over his shoulder at the two maps he was holding.

“It has to be here,” Mona pointed excitedly at a strange looking building on the map.

“What is that?” Violet asked.

“Could it be a tower or something?” Panther added on, and Joker folded the map up and slid it into his coat.

“Let’s go,” he said as he strode out of the room but stopped as the door to the library slammed open. “Shit…”

“What’re you pests doing in here?” At the entrance of the library, Joker saw a red aura preceding the Shadow as it stomped towards him, and Joker grabbed hold of his knife as he stared down the intense Shadow. Its aura flared slightly as the Shadow’s body jerked in every direction before collapsing into the same pool of thick liquid as the rest of the Shadows, but Joker unconsciously gripped his knife harder as a horse-riding Shadow weilding a lance burst from the small lake of the mysterious liquid; this was going to be harder than he thought. 

Without warning, the Shadow charged straight at Joker, its lance positioned straight for his head. Joker barely had time to shoot his left leg out to the side, narrowly dodging the attack as he felt the sharp lance trim off some of his hair. However, the Shadow stopped right next to Joker and the red horse kicked out at him, its hoof landing square on his chest and sending him flying backwards into the bookshelves.

“Senpai!” Violet called out, but Joker could barely hear over the ringing in his ears as he fought to his feet. His chest was aching with every breath he took and his vision was slightly blurred, but Joker was able to see two balls of light slam into the Shadow. “What!?”

As the light faded, Joker could see that the Shadow was largely unperturbed, only a fairly wide crack in its armor that Joker could see. Fighting through the pain, Joker reached up for his mask before stopping, his blood running cold as he stared at the Shadow.

**_This is the being that attempted to strike you down before…_ **

**_You could end this in an instant…_ **

**_Call upon me, and accept your gi–_ **

“Joker!”

Mona’s voice shot through Joker’s head as the deep voice faded from his consciousness, and Joker was met with the Shadow’s lance nearly skewering him yet again. This time, Joker jumped clear out of the way, his ribs creaking in pain as he landed on a nearby messy table and sending the books all over the floor before forcing his eyes back on the Shadow’s hatred filled eyes. It was clear that the Shadow was somewhat weary, more cuts in its armor and blood beginning to seep through along with some burn marks on the crimson horse.

“Genbu, Bufu!” Joker tore off his mask the instant the Shadow began charging again, dropping his knife as the turtle Persona burst into existence in front of him and fired off a chunk of ice at the Shadow. A pained roar teared its way from the horse’s mouth as the ice broke against its skin, sinking deep into its flesh and drawing large amounts of its black blood as it fell to the ground. “Violet, surround it!”

Drawing his pistol from nothing, Joker trained his eyes onto the injured Shadow as the others did the same around it. “Let’s talk.”

“...” The Shadow said nothing, only letting out a grunt as it met Joker’s gaze. 

‘It’s not going to listen…’ 

“Let’s go!” Letting go of his pistol for his knife, Joker received three other nods as he leapt into the air, tearing his knife through both the lancer wielder and horse as he dashed around it. Blood splattered all around the room as well as the Shadow’s pained cries, and Joker landed on the ground as he saw Violet land right on top of the Shadow, sinking her rapier through both parts of the being before ripping it out. His vision was still slightly shaky, but Joker saw a somewhat crazed look in her eyes as Violet jumped off the Shadow and watched it fade into nothing but blood and dust.

“D-damn, that thing was tough…” Skull stuttered as he grasped his right arm, a small stream of blood trickling out as him, Mona, and Panther walked towards the center of the room.

“Here, let me heal you guys up,” Mona said, and Joker felt the cracks in his ribs heal quickly as a green light swirled around him, the same light swirling around the others as well. He let out a sigh as he let go of his knife, but was soon faced with three sets of eyes as Mona approached him. “Joker, what was that about? You just stopping in the middle of the fight and all.”

“Yeah, that freaked me out. That thing was kicking our ass while you were out,” Skull added, a weary grin on his face, but Joker kept his face level as he stared back at the three as he noticed Violet was shaking somewhat where she stood.

“Violet, what’s up?” Joker pushed past the three as he made his way towards the redhead, who didn’t react as he stopped just next to her.

“You… That… I saw the light… go out from your eyes… just like that time…” Violet stammered out, clearly on the verge of tears and Joker finally noticed that her eyes were closed shut. “I… I don’t want you… hurting yourself again... “

“Violet, I’ll be safe. I promise,” Joker found himself saying, placing his hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“Do… do you mean it?”

Joker looked down at Violet to see her staring up at him, her ruby eyes shimmering behind her mask, and he nodded. “Yeah.” 

A brief moment of silence fell between the two, Joker making sure his firm gaze didn’t show the uncertainty he was feeling within his chest, before Violet’s eyes lit up with what appeared to be realization and a light pink dusted her cheeks as she backed away suddenly.

“O-oh, I’m sorry Joker-senpai. W-we need to k-ke-keep going, right?” Joker’s brow creased as he stared at Violet; just a moment before she was on the verge of tears, but now she was not only animated again, but seemingly embarrassed over something. Joker simply internally shrugged it off and nodded.

“Yeah,” Joker said, stopping himself as he began turning to look towards Mona. “Hey Mona, try to memorize and call out the Shadow’s weaknesses we’re facing at any time. That’s more important than ever now with those things.”

“Got it,” Mona said, and with one final nod Joker began moving towards the exit of the library and towards the gated off door, the still shaky Violet following close behind him.

“H-hey Senpai, we didn’t find a use for that o-other book, did we?” Violet whispered as Joker stared at the intense looking Shadow. 

“Wait a sec, wasn’t there an open spot in the small bookshelf over there?” Joker turned to see Skull pointing down the large hallway and let out a sigh, reaching into his coat and tossing the book towards Skull.

“If you find something, keep it for yourself. Don’t get caught,” Joker said as he returned his attention to the Shadow. He was already feeling slight mental strain from the fighting so far, and, even though it was nowhere near serious, unnecessary fighting would only slow him down. ‘I’ll just use the other Vanish Ball so we can get through.’ As the Shadow began turning around, Joker reached back into his coat and procured the second and last Vanish Ball, and felt Violet tense behind him as if she was preparing to move.

“Joker, I found something! It’s like… protein powder or somethin’ like that?” Just before Joker threw the ball, Skull’s loud voice cut through his mind and forced him to stop.

“Hold onto it, and keep quiet,” Joker said in a low tone with a growl in the undertones of his voice. “Be ready to move.” When the Shadow was halfway down the hallway, Joker broke the Vanish Ball against the ground and a puff of smoke concealed him immediately. He worked fast as he placed the medal into the exact shape hole underneath the bust of the ram, which lowered with a click.

“Hm… Nothing around here so far,” Joker heard the Shadow say, and he breathed a sigh of relief as the bars went down after pulling on the hoop hanging from the ram’s nose. Knowing Violet was right behind him, Joker pushed the door open and descended the stairs immediately in front of him.

“This feeling… There’s a safe room up ahead, Joker!” Mona exclaimed next to Joker as he walked down the hallway, seeing the door to the safe room to his right and a passageway into an open room on his left. Nodding, Joker opened the door to the room and went over to the corner Mona had previously shown him, squatting down and pressing his hand into the stone to unlock the elevator type mechanism.

“We don’t have time to rest, let’s go,” Joker announced as he stood up, Violet right on his heels as the rest followed through the door and into the large open room. “Another door…”

Pushing the next one open, Joker was met with a huge room with rows upon rows of pews lined up, all facing towards a giant statue of Kamoshida. 

“No Shadows and a giant room…” Joker noted, crouching behind one of the pew and scanning the room, which appeared to be some sort of church.

“Yeah, I was thinking that it’s pretty suspicious as well,” Mona added on behind Joker. “Be careful, Joker.”

“We need to keep moving though. Violet, stay near,” Joker said, and began crouch-walking his way down the open aisle, Violet to his immediate right before stopping. For a brief moment, he could’ve sworn the entire room shifted before returning to normal.

“S-Senpai? Was that… the gym?” Violet asked, confirming Joker’s suspicions as he nodded.

“I get it… The gym’s some kinda holy place for him. He’s a god there,” Skull said with the most disgust Joker had heard from him, and he continued moving forward with Violet beside him. 

“Even after what he did to Shiho, he still thinks like this?” Panther questioned. Her voice was shaking, but Joker knew that it was out of anger and disgust rather than fear. Letting out a small sigh, Joker refocused his attention on looking around the room for any traps.

Joker’s eyes were sharp as he scanned the entire room with every step, but still no Shadows in sight. As he reached the front of the chapel, the unease building in Joker’s chest erupted into alarm as he could feel the presence of another being practically on top of him and he shot out both of his arms

“Senpa–?”

“Everyone, stop!” Joker commanded, feeling Violet bump into his right arm.

“I see… So you’re the ones who tampered with the library. It seems my time waiting here has paid off…” Out of nowhere, a golden Shadow burst into existence in front of Joker, standing well above him. “Just as that ape there said, this place is a holy ground for our great King Kamoshida. It is preposterous for miscreants like yourselves to come waltzing in like this!”

Joker noticed the Shadow begin to convulse and forced the other four backwards as he grabbed hold of his knife, and from the pile of sludge came an angelic Shadow with red wings and a massive sword floating above Joker.

**“You will pay for foolishly defying King Kamoshida… with your lives!”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, an update from me within a week, give or take? It's a miracle!   
> Joking aside, love being back and hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please leave a comment if you did(a simple "Nice job!" or something like that goes a long way for me) and can't wait to keep putting out chapters!


	13. Soldiers of Lust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter with music, hope you all like what I chose! I did not post where to end the music, but I hope it is self explanatory for when it ends.

“Joker, watch out! It's trying to do something!”

Violet’s head spun from Joker to the red winged Shadow in front of her and her eyes widened; a red aura was pulsing off of the Shadow as its eyes were locked onto Joker. She couldn’t reach up to her own mask to summon Cendrillon as the Shadow swung it’s blade out in front of it, sending a wave of energy towards Joker.

“Argh!” Violet spun towards Joker as he cried out to see him with his arms up, blood flowing freely down them both.

“Senpai!” Taking a step towards Joker as she reached up towards her mask, Violet stopped as the black haired teen threw out his right arm, blood flying off it and splattering on the ground.

“I’m fine so save your energy!” Joker shouted out, and Violet could hear the growl undercutting his voice as she saw his fists were clenched and his jaw tightened. 

“I could barely see that thing’s attack before it hit Joker,” Mona said to Violet’s left with a mixture of horror and amazement in his voice, his scimitar in his hands as a blue light surrounded him. “This thing’s trouble, give it your all! Show your might, Zorro!”

Gusts of green energy swirled in front of the massive Persona as soon as it manifested within the blue flames and, with a swipe of its blade, Zorro sent the attack directly at the Shadow. However, Violet could see that the energy was doing barely anything as it made miniscule cuts into the Shadow’s armor. As the energy dispersed, Violet could see the same aura around the Shadow as before, the Shadow’s eyes directed towards Mona beside her.

“Really?! That didn’t do anythi- Shit!” Mona was cut off by yet another wave of energy and he slammed into a nearby pew, his tiny arms being matted with blood as they trembled in front of himself. 

“Mona!” Violet called out, her gut twisting as she saw the cat stumble back to his feet.

“I-I’m alright. Zorro, heal!” Green light swirled around the cat, and Violet saw as the deep cuts in his arms began to fade until there was only a tiny cut left with the blood in his fur also disappearing. “A direct hit from this thing will take any of us down, so we need to play it safe. First, Zorro!”

Again, green light began to descend, only this time around Joker as the gashes in his arms faded into nothing but faint scars.

“Violet, let’s go!” Joker called out immediately, and Violet’s body moved on its own after Joker as he rushed towards the Shadow, once again with the threatening aura around it. “Mona, call out who you think it’s going to attack!”

“How do I do that?!” Mona called back, but Violet could see the Shadow glaring directly at her as it pulled back it’s blade. Just as the wave of energy came crashing towards her, Violet was already dashing to the side, and the energy shattered the ground she was previously standing on and sending.

“Nice work, Violet!” Joker shouted over the battlefield, his knife flashing downwards across the Shadow’s body as he dove underneath it, narrowly avoiding the Shadow’s razor sharp blade.

“Watch its eyes, Mona!” Violet yelled out, dashing back towards the Shadow as it turned towards Joker behind it, gripping her rapier tight as she pulled back and stabbed forward three times at the core of the Shadow. However, her blade only made small cracks in its armor as she jumped backwards, the Shadow’s blade nearly clipping her leg as it spun around with its arm outstretched.

“Skull, Panther, do something!” Violet felt her blood chill slightly as Joker roared, and she saw his knife collide with the Shadow’s sword as it completed its rotation, throwing him backwards towards the giant statue of Kamoshida. 

“Senpai! Heal him, Cendrillion!” Without thinking, Violet ripped off her mask and willed the green energy around Joker who immediately straightened back up.

“I’m fine, Violet! Focus on the Shadow!” Violet winced at the coldness in Joker’s voice but nodded nonetheless, willing Cendrillion towards the Shadow as the red aura surrounded it. 

“Watch out, you tw–”

“Get em, Captain Kidd!” Skull shouted over Mona, and Violet barely had time to react as an arc of electricity shot out towards the Shadow and slammed into its chest. However, the Shadow instantly flipped around and swiped its blade towards Skull, sending a line of energy straight for his chest. “Shit!” The blond fell backwards as he barely got his arms up in time, but Violet tore her focus away from behind her as she saw the Shadow moving again in the corner of her eyes.

“Kouha!” She commanded, gripping her rapier as she rushed underneath the two swirling orbs of light aimed straight for the Shadow’s chest. As the two orbs erupted against the Shadow, Violet preemptively twirled to the right as she prepared to swipe at the Shadow.

“Violet, back up!” Just as she swung at the Shadow, Joker’s voice rang in Violet’s head, and she realized too late that the Shadow’s blade was rocketing towards her. However, as Violet closed her eyes and threw up her arms against the Shadow’s sword, the pain she expected never came.

“Huh?” As Violet opened her eyes, she was met with Arsene floating in between her and the Shadow. It didn’t take long to see the Shadow’s glimmering blade pierced through Arsene’s shoulder, and Violet immediately looked beyond the two beings, her hand flying up to her mouth as her eyes landed on Joker kneeling on the ground and clutching his shoulder. “Senpai!” 

“Focus on the Shadow!” Joker roared again, stopping Violet in her tracks as soon as she started rushing towards him and she turned towards the Shadow. It hurted to hear Joker yell at her, but now wasn’t the time to feed those emotions.

As her eyes fell back on the Shadow, she noticed Arsene’s hand skewered through its lower abdomen with black blood beginning to trickle down its armor, and Violet instantly reached up for her mask. “Cendrillon!” Violet called out, ripping off her mask and rushing at the Shadow in tandem with her Persona. Energy gathered around Cendrillon’s legs as Violet dove underneath the now struggling Shadow trying to free both its blade from Arsene and Arsene’s hand from its body, and flashed her rapier three times across the Shadow’s body right underneath where Arsene’s arm was stuck. The first two strikes did nothing, but the final slash cut through the weakening armor and Violet felt her rapier go through flesh as a small amount of blood flew out.

“Now!” Flipping away from the Shadow, Violet both felt and saw her Persona rush past her as Cendrillon drove both energy infused legs towards the weakened part of the Shadow’s armor. A loud grunt of pain came from the Shadow as Cendrillon ripped through its armor more, sending more of the liquid flying around the room.

“Any of you three, finish it off!” Violet heard Joker yell from the other side of the Shadow, and she winced slightly; she could clearly hear the pain he was trying to hold back in his voice.

“Alright!” Skull and Panther both shouted in unison, and Violet noticed that Cendrillion’s leg was also stuck in the Shadow, preventing it from moving even more. However, despite its immobility, Violet saw the Shadow’s eyes were the same as it stared down at her. 

‘Wait, they’re actually glowing no–?’

“Get out of there, you four!” 

It was too late. When Mona’s voice reached Violet, a large blast of energy erupted from the center of the Shadow, engulfing the two Persona’s and sending Violet flying backwards, the flight ending with her slamming into a pew. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out as she tried to move. Her entire body felt like it was on fire as it refused to budge, and Violet felt blood rush down her body as the room spun.

“S-shit…”

“Dammit…”

Violet struggled to lift her head as Skull and Panther’s voices reached her, and through her tears she saw two figures on the ground across the aisle as her head fell back against the pew. She could barely move, let alone speak, as she stared up at the high ceiling of the chapel. Tears were rolling down her face as tiny groans of pain escaped her mouth, obscuring her vision even more as her mask reformed on her face, creating a small pool of the salty water before it spilled out again.

“Zo… He… ...em!” Violet could barely hear Mona over the ringing in her ears, the pain flooding her mind and body as she could feel her other self slowly fading within her mind. 

“Cend...rillon…” She managed to say, her right hand falling onto the ground as dark blotches covered her vision.

“Sh...t! Sk...l, h...ld i... b...k! Pa...her, y... ...o h...p V...t a...d Joker!” 

“Sen...pai?” Violet forced her closing eyes to stay ajar as her head battled her injured state as she directed it to where she last saw Joker. ‘He… he isn’t there… Where is he?!’ Despite the pain racketing throughout her body, Violet forcibly blinked away her tears as she tried to find where Joker was. ‘Please… Please be okay…!’

“Car…n!” Suddenly, the numerous cuts spanning Violet’s body began closing as a soothing green light filled her vision, and the weight that was keeping Violet down was lifted as she blinked in surprise.

“P-Panther-senpai?” Violet looked over to her left to see the blonde in red staring back at her with a slight smile poorly covering up the seriousness written across her face. Moving her still heavy arms behind herself, Violet managed to push herself into a squatting position, freeing herself from the slight indentation made in the now broken pew .

“Are you okay?” Panther asked, but Violet’s eyes flashed wide open as she heard an all too familiar cry of pain from the other side of the chapel.

“Senpai?” Violet weakly called out as she jumped to her feet with a wave of dizziness hitting her, but she forced herself to stay up as she frantically scanned the room. She barely noticed Captain Kidd get thrown backwards by the Shadow as her gaze locked onto Joker, propping himself off the ground with his arms and facing towards the Shadow. 

“[Shut… shut up…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LxHAuAnja8)” Even though the ringing in her ears was still present, Violet made out Joker’s feeble voice. His fists were clenched and Violet could see sweat pouring onto the ground right below his face, but his mask was obscuring his eyes as she tried to take a step forward. However, as she did, Violet’s hair whipped back as a large gust of air began pushing her away from the Shadow.

“What’s… What’s going on?” Panther asked as Violet threw up her heavy arms in a failed attempt to block the intensifying galeforce.

“Is… is it the Shadow?” Violet could barely make out Skull’s voice over the rushing winds blowing past her ears. As Violet and Panther were pushed back towards where Skull and Mona were standing, a horrified gasp tore itself from Violet as her eyes landed back onto Joker.

 **“You… are very troublesome indeed.”** Joker was standing tall where he was just laying and his mouth was moving , but the voice that reached Violet didn’t belong to Joker.

‘No… please don’t tell me!’

 **“It seems a more… appealing taste of my power is needed to prod you into the right direction. Very well,”** the dark voice rang out over the violent tornado raging throughout the chapel.

“Is… is that Joker?!” Panther yelled just as the wind storm dispersed entirely, leaving the room in a strange calm as Violet stared at Joker’s unmoving body. His black coat was stained with blood and Violet could see deep slashes in his flesh through the tears of the stylish outfit, but, by Joker’s face, she couldn’t tell if he was in any actual pain as his emotionless eyes were directed straight at the Shadow.

Violet stared in horror as a black fog poured out from Joker’s mask and began surrounding his head until it was entirely covered. Fear paralyzed Violet as she remained completely motionless, watching as the smog began hardening into a rough, scale-like material all around Joker’s head. Two spikes protruded and slowly turned forward from the smog on either side of Joker’s head as the front of the smog began expanding outwards, forming what appeared to be a stout maw slightly ajar with razor sharp teeth lining it. The eyeholes of what was once Joker’s mask were covered by the thick fog, clearing away for Violet to see the eyes of her one friend covered by some sort of black glass.

“S...Senpai?” She whispered as Joker planted his right leg in front of him towards the Shadow floating a good distance away from him.

 **“Weak,”** the voice said as the Shadow pulled back its blade before swinging it directly at Joker’s chest. Violet tried to move towards the Shadow, to rip off her mask, to do something, but before she could force her body into action, the entire chapel was filled with the Shadow’s ear splitting roar of pain. A splatter of blood drizzled onto the ground all around Violet as she saw Joker’s knife fly back into his hand, and a moment later the Shadow’s left arm hit the ground with a giant thud. 

“The hell’s happening?” Skull breathed out, his voice barely registering in Violet’s mind as Joker took a step towards the Shadow.

 **“Hmph, it seems none can make an interesting challenge here.”** A chill ran down Violet’s spine as the coverings over Joker’s eyes began glowing a faint red, and as he took a step forward the Shadow tried to swing again at him. This time Violet was able to catch Joker’s knife tearing through the abdomen of the Shadow, cutting through its armor as if nothing was there. However, she also noted that his knife was surrounded by the same red glittering beneath his eye coverings, something she had never seen.

Another wave of blood splattered onto the ground behind Joker as the Shadow fell to the ground as Joker continued his slow approach towards the dying Shadow. **“Pathetic,”** the low voice boomed as Joker stepped onto the giant Shadow, positioning his knife over its terrified face as he knelt down. Violet’s skin turned ice cold as she watched Joker plunge his knife into the Shadow’s head, twisting it as the last shower of blood fell around the group and the Shadow dispersed into dust, leaving Joker on the ground with his slightly pulsating knife in hand.

“Senpai?” Violet quietly asked, her legs moving on their own as she began approaching the stoic figure. No response came from him, so Violet continued to move towards him, her body trembling as she saw more of the deep cuts across his body.

 **“Now that you had your second taste of absolute strength, I hope our next meeting will grant me my desired answer.”** Violet froze in place a few steps from Joker as she saw his body seize up slightly, and the blackened helmet began to turn back into black smog. It pillared into the air before disappearing into nothing, leaving Joker’s head once again bare except for his black and white mask.

“S-Senpai? Are you… Are you okay?” Violet asked timidly, her voice quivering as she reached out towards him. His eyes were blank and his face was still devoid of emotion, so Violet let her hand gingerly fall on his shoulder. 

However, just as she made contact, she was swept off her feet and was soaring through the sky. She barely had time to register what was going on, let alone fully realize how close she was to Joker, as her feet touched down on a thick piece of metal with three other thuds behind her signifying that the other’s had somehow made it with them.

“What… what happened?” Skull asked, and Violet realized the answer to his question as she looked down at the horde of Shadows roaming the now destroyed chapel before looking back up to see Joker’s grey eyes locked onto her.

“Joker-senpai, are you alright?” The question slipped out of Violet’s mouth again as Joker opened his, looking down to see the cuts all across his body. She could feel Cendrillon clear in her mind once again, so Violet reached up for her mask and summoned the blue skinned woman. Green light poured into Joker, his wounds disappearing into light scars as Cendrillon entered back into Violet’s mind with her mask flashing back onto her face.

“...yeah, thanks,” Joker said, nodding towards Violet as he began to turn around.

“Joker, what the hell just happened?” Mona’s voice carried enough urgency for Violet to stop right behind Joker, who also stopped as he turned his head slightly towards the cat.

“I used that attachment you gave me yesterday to grab you thr–”

“That’s not what I’m referring to!”

Violet trained her red eyes on Joker as he looked down at the chapel floor, seeing the uncertainty clear on his face as he blinked slowly at the ground. “I don’t know.”

“Whatever it was, it was sick! I didn’t know you had that power, dude!” Skull exclaimed, and Violet winced, expecting an ice cold glare from Joker to be directed at Skull, but nothing came as an awkward silence fell over the five. 

“Whatever.” Joker began moving once again as he passed through an archway, and Violet made sure to stay in step with him as she looked down at a balcony with a door to her right. However, she barely caught Joker shaking his head and muttered to himself “Map said it was locked…” as he began moving to her left and jumped down onto a small overhang surrounding the pillar she was standing on. 

Violet tried her best to stay focused as she followed Joker across the pillars, jumping across the large gap with ease, but she couldn’t prevent her mind from wandering from the encounter that had just happened moments ago as she stared at Joker’s strong back. 

‘Is… is he okay? I was able to heal him this time, but… that helmet…’ Violet could feel her nails biting into her palms through her gloves as her hands balled into fists; if only she was stronger, he wouldn’t have to go through that. ‘I’m so weak... I couldn’t even move to help him after Panther-senpai healed me.’

“Violet, stop it.”

“Huh?” Violet blinked slowly as she bumped into Joker’s back and looked up to see Joker’s sharp eyes staring back at her over his shoulder. “S-Senpai?”

“Stop thinking like that. You did nothing wrong,” Joker said plainly before turning back towards the archway leading towards more scaffolding hanging above the chapel.

“H-how did you…” Violet stuttered, and Joker stopped again just as he was about to jump onto the narrow pathway.

“Stop thinking like you owe me anything, because you don’t. You’re doing fine, and it was all our faults for getting caught in that Shadow’s attack. Now let’s go.” Violet could only stare at the back of Joker as he dashed onto and across the steel scaffolding before slapping her cheeks hard.

‘He’s right,’ was all she thought before turning her attention back upwards and chased after Joker, a renewed sense of vigor within her as she heard the three others behind her. ‘I can’t keep thinking like that, especially when he’s already put his belief in me. But… What did he mean by stop thinking I owe him?’

However, as Violet continued trying to process what Joker meant, she found herself nearly bouncing into his back once again as he stopped in front of a door. Violet jumped back away from Joker, holding back the surprised yelp in her throat as he looked back at her. “Are you ready?”

“Y-yeah!” Violet exclaimed, shaking her head slightly in a futile attempt to rid herself of the slight heat on her cheeks.

“...Alright,” Joker said as he turned back towards the door and pushed it open, but Violet could see his raised eyebrows as he did so and began feeling slightly self-conscious. The feeling of Joker’s arm around her waist still lingered inside her mind, which only made the feeling worse as the heat on her cheeks flared up.

“Hey, you good?” Violet jumped at the sudden question behind her, flipping around to see Skull, Panther, and Mona walking towards her.

“Y-yes!” Violet answered, cringing internally as she heard the shakiness in her voice, and flipped back towards the open door and hurried after Joker.

“One Shadow ahead, we’re avoiding any fights we can from now on,” Joker whispered as Violet dove next to him behind a chair, hyper aware of her proximity to him.

“G-got it,” Violet responded, but Joker barely even waited for her response as he dashed to the next chair. Avoiding the Shadow was easy as Violet caught up with Joker at the end of the hallway, the other three close behind her as she moved to Joker’s side as he peered down another hallway from the behind the corner of the wall.

“Nothing of importance in either ro- Mona, what’s that?” Joker interrupted himself, and Violet followed his gaze to see a wall covered in vines with a red door in the center just over a large gap in the floor.

“I don’t know, but it seems important. Let’s check it out, Joker!” Mona responded, and Violet saw Joker nod and get up from their hiding spot. Violet did the same as she followed behind Joker, hearing the loud footsteps to her right as they passed by two doors, and stopped behind Joker as he reached the railing on the balcony.

“There’s definitely something fishy over there. There’s vines growing on the door too,” Skull said behind Violet.

“No one’s been there for a long time, by the looks of it.”

“Senpai, what should we do?” Violet turned towards Joker, her heart calming down as the shaking was nearly gone from her voice. “Should we take a closer look?”

“There’s that handle-like thing up there… You three, step back,” Joker said, turning around as he held out his left arm towards the three others. Violet barely turned in time to see three miniature wires shoot out from Joker’s wrist and latch onto the three’s wrists.

“What the hell is this!?” Skull shouted in surprise, bringing his trapped hand up towards his face to get a closer look.

“I didn’t think you would have time to get this much done, Joker. I’m impressed!” Mona exclaimed.

“Just had some free time today, but I was only able to make three with the materials I had,” Joker said as he turned towards Violet. “Grab onto me.”

Without further instruction, Violet walked towards Joker and wrapped her arms around his neck. She still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but she knew Joker didn’t ask her to do anything unless he meant it, so she wasn’t going to argue as he shot out his left arm towards the handle on the other side of the gap. 

“Woah!” The three behind Violet and Joker shouted in unison as they whizzed towards the other side, the air flowing through Violet’s hair as a small smile played onto her face. Perhaps she enjoyed it too much considering where she was, but she couldn’t still her beating heart as she let go of Joker and flipped through the air as she descended towards the ground, landing a few paces in front of the vine covered door.

“Daaaaamn, I didn’t know you had somethin’ like that!” Skull said excitedly, and Violet turned around just in time to see Joker walk past her and towards the door.

“I’m pretty proud of it,” Mona said, pride filling his voice as Violet turned and followed Joker towards the door. “But still, I’m glad you thought to make as many as you could before today, or we would have been in trouble earlier.”

“Oh, so that’s what happened?” Panther’s voice grew slightly louder as three sets of footsteps approached from behind. “I could barely even recognise what was going on before we were already up above all those Shadows.”

Violet noticed Joker’s knife flash into his hand before he ran it across the door, cutting through the vines easily as they fell harmlessly onto the ground and allowed Joker to push the door open. Inside, Violet’s eyes were met with a strange looking room with nothing in it except for a skull with a red light coming from within it.

“Joker-senpai, what’s… that?” Violet asked as the two approached the creepy object. However, before Joker could respond, a flash of black fur crossed Violet’s vision as Mona stopped directly in front of the skull sitting atop weirdly pulsating vines.

“This… is a Will Seed,” Mona announced, turning back towards Violet and Joker with a satisfied grin on his face.

“So you know what this is,” Joker muttered, his eyes locked onto the Will Seed as Violet stole a glance over at him.

“When the distortions from the Palace’s ruler coalesce into a physical form, this is the result - I call it a Will Seed.”

“What do we do with this?” Panther asked from Violet’s left, getting Mona’s attention as his giant head turned towards her.

“We take it,” the cat said simply. “It may not be as valuable as the Treasure, but it’s still a rare find. Making it ours will only do us good… I think.” 

“Nothin shitty better happen when we take this, alright?” Skull said, his voice shaking slightly. Violet understood the feeling; a small knot had taken root in her stomach as she stared at the seed, but she nonetheless saw Joker approach the Will Seed and wrap his gloved hand around it.

“Kamoshida?!” Joker spun around with the Will Seed in his hand, and his eyes were wide open as he looked wildly around the room.

“Senpai, what’s wrong?” Violet asked immediately as she moved closer towards him.

“I… I heard Kamoshida’s voice,” Joker responded, blinking slowly as the shock slowly faded from his face. “But… it’s fading now.”

Suddenly, the light within the Seed burst out and surrounded Violet momentarily before flowing into her. Violet’s mind cleared and felt Cendrillon become more prominent in her mind just as the strange energy pouring into her chest slowed to a stop.“What… what just happened?” Violet asked as she looked at Joker to see the same light fading into nothing as it entered into his chest. As she stared at him, their eyes met, and she could see the energy within his grey orbs had returned somewhat as he pushed the Will Seed into his coat.

“I feel kinda lighter now. Was it ‘cause of that light, Mona?” Skull asked, but before Mona could respond Joker began moving towards the exit of the room.

“Yes, it replenished some of our mental stamina. How many more of those are there, Mona?” Joker questioned as he stopped next to the cat, Violet turning and drawing close to him as Mona looked up at Joker.

“I would say there’s two left in the Palace,” Mona responded, frantically waving his arms before as Joker began turning towards the door once again. “Joker, shouldn’t you give us those connectors by now? That would make grappling much easier for you.”

“Fine. You three, hold out your wrists.” Joker turned suddenly on his heels towards the two blondes and Mona, and Violet saw three metallic cuffs form in his hand as he moved towards Skull. With all three complying and three small clicks, Violet saw the same sized cuffs morph to the size of the individual's wrist with Mona’s being the smallest. 

“Senpai, what about me?” Violet found herself asking, the words slipping from her mouth, and her heart sped as Joker’s eyes told her the answer before he even spoke a word.

“I only made three, so you’ll have to hold on,” Joker said plainly, turning on his heels as he turned back towards the door. As Violet followed after him, her mind went blank, and she wrapped her arms around his neck again as they reached the balcony yet again.

‘I can’t stop my heart from beating faster... Even thinking about something else doesn’t help…’ Violet shook her head as Joker flung out his left hand, and she barely caught the three miniature wires shooting out behind him before she was taken off her feet as she instinctively tightened her grip around Joker as they flew through the air. The flight was short, and Violet jumped away from Joker as soon as they reached the ground once again, hiding her reddening face before Joker could look at her.

“Are you okay?” Joker’s monotone voice shook Violet slightly, and she only gave a small nod in response. Her heart was racing as she battled to still the shaking in her legs; why was she acting like this? She didn’t even know herself, because her and Joker were only friends. ‘Maybe… maybe it’s because we’re friends? Yeah, that has to be it!’ 

As Violet followed behind Joker as he moved down the hallway and turned left into another spiral staircase, she convinced herself more and more of the reason for her own nervousness around Joker and shook off the remainder of the blush from her cheeks as they ran up the staircase.

“Senpai, there’s that tower that we saw on the map!” Violet called out immediately as they reached the top of the staircase and walked out into an open courtyard, pointing up towards the giant tower looming in the black and red sky.

“Hell yeah! So… where do we enter?” Skull asked behind Violet as she followed Joker into the courtyard, hiding behind a stone wall and peering out into the main section of the area.

“There’s strong Shadows everywhere, but I see a handle up there,” Violet barely made out as Joker muttered to himself, and without warning he turned towards her, his grey eyes meeting her red. “Grab on.”

“O-okay,” Violet stuttered back, but she didn’t have any time to feel embarrassed as Joker shot out his left arm out towards the sky, his grappling hook whizzing into the night sky and latching onto a hook at the top of a tower in the middle of the courtyard. Flying through the castle was one thing, but the cold air hitting her face as Violet stared out at the moon made her mind race as she stole a glance at Joker. However, as her feet touched the ground, she didn’t have the chance to let go of Joker as he shot his arm back into the sky, the wire of the grappling hook extending well into the night sky as Violet saw it connect with an attachment to the flagpole looking over the courtyard. Her mind barely had a chance to catch up with her mind as she was flying through the air again, her crimson hair flying behind her as her and Joker passed by where his hook had connected, but there wasn’t any place to land.

“Brace yourself!” Joker yelled, though there wasn’t any sense of urgency in his voice as Violet began plummeting to the ground. In any other circumstance she would be freaking out, but she let go of Joker as she rolled onto the hard stone ground leading towards the tower, jumping to her feet right next to Joker. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Daaaamn, we really flew all the way up here in one go!” Skull shouted as Violet followed Joker towards the looming tower, leaping up onto a stoney overhang leading to an opening in the tower.

“I knew you would be a natural with grappling. Let’s keep this pace up!” Mona exclaimed as Violet jumped down after Joker into the room waiting below the opening, three weights hitting the ground behind them as she followed Joker’s gaze to the right. “Hey Joker, I sense a Will Seed around here! Let’s look around to see if there’s any pathways up the tow–”

“There’s an opening over there. You four stay here, I’ll get it by myself,” Joker said, already climbing up on the tower of crates right underneath the vent opening on the wall.

“Let me come too, Senpai!” Violet’s legs worked on their own as she began to immediately follow after Joker, jumping right next to him on the pile of crates.

“...Fine, you three stay p–”

“No way! We’re comin’ along too, man! We’re in this shit together, remember?” Skull protested, and before Violet knew it the other three were walking towards the crates. The only response Joker gave was a slight sigh as he turned towards the vent and began climbing through it. Violet realized too late what was going on as she averted her eyes to the sides of the vent, and let out a sigh of relief as she exited the vent right as Joker jumped from another opening onto a fairly large platform.

“Violet, gr–”

“Got it,” Violet interrupted Joker, already seeing the handle Joker had his eyes locked onto and wrapped her arms around him once again. Her heart was still beating fast as she was forced to make contact with Joker, but thankfully the flight upwards didn’t take too long as Joker shot out his hand for a second time and she landed on a long stone platform leading towards another opening.

“Another Will Seed up ahead!” Skull exclaimed excitedly as Violet jumped down after Joker, seeing his knife flash into his hand as he stopped and sliced the vines off the door before pushing it open, revealing a similar looking room as before only with a green Will Seed instead of the red. Walking in step with Joker, Violet stared at him as he reached out for the Seed.

“Urgh…”

“Senpai! What’s wrong?” Violet lurched forward as Joker’s free hand shot towards his head, his face paling slightly as the light inside the Seed intensified. She barely noticed the light burst out and surrounded her, just as the last Seed did, as she stared at Joker as he struggled to straighten himself back up.

“You… you didn’t hear what Kamoshida said?” Joker asked, looking up towards Violet, and she finally realized that any of the remaining injuries on Joker’s body began closing as the green light began dispersing.

“N-no…” Violet shook her head.

“What did he say?” Panther asked, taking a step towards Joker and Violet from her right, and Violet found herself instinctively drawing ever closer to Joker. She realized too late what she was doing as Joker looked down at her, his eyebrows slightly raised, but didn’t budge as she looked back up at him, curious about the answer as well.

However, Joker closed his eyes, leaving the room in silence when he suddenly took a step forward and made his way towards the exit of the room. “We need to keep going,” he said without turning around, and Violet’s legs worked overtime just so she could catch up with him as he approached the edge of the stone platform. With seemingly little hesitation, Joker jumped off of it, and Violet saw him roll with ease on the lower platform before walking to the edge again. Seeing Joker do it just prior allowed Violet the confidence to jump off the edge, and she landed without any issue and turned to the next platform. Taking one last jump, she found herself right next to Joker and met his gaze as she straightened herself up with his eyes full of… concern?

“Senpai?” Violet said cautiously, turning fully towards the older boy and tilting her head to the side slightly. She had never seen that much concern in his eyes… ever, really, but as she held her gaze Joker broke off as he turned towards the vent.

“Nothing, sorry,” Joker responded, crouching down and slipped into the vent, effectively shutting down any further conversation as the other three landed behind Violet.

“Man, he doesn’t slow down at all?” Skull grumbled as he walked towards Violet, but she barely even heard him. ‘What’s going on with Senpai? What did he hear to make him like this? And then there’s something wrong with that black helmet he had…’

“Violet?” 

“Ah!” Spinning around at her codename, Violet met eyes with Panther as the blonde was a few paces away from her.

“Sorry to startle you, but you were spacing out there. Is something wrong?”

“N-no! E-everything is f-fine!” Violet tried to assure the other girl, but she knew she failed the moment she opened her mouth.

“Are you worried about Joker?”

Violet’s head shot back towards Panther as it began to fall to the side. “H-how did you…?”

“You’re really bad at hiding what you’re thinking about, and it’s clear you two are pretty close,” Panther answered as she shrugged slightly.“I don’t know him that well, but I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Violet stared blankly at the blonde as a smile crossed the girl’s face, and Violet nodded slightly as she turned towards the vent and crouched down.

‘I have to believe in him, because he was the only one to believe in me,’ Violet thought as she climbed through the vent, finding her way back to the open room and landing right next to where Joker was standing.

“Sorry for making you wait, Joker-senpai,” Violet said immediately, noticing the small frown on his face as she looked up at him.

Joker only shook his head before turning on his heels towards the fancily engraved door and pushed his body against it, just as Violet heard the others drop down behind her.

“What the hell?!” Skull exclaimed as the door easily opened against Joker’s body weight, revealing an open room that was… crumbling?  
“Senpai, what’s going on?” Violet asked as she tentatively walked beside Joker, peering around the room to try and gather her bearings. She noticed two exits to the strange room, one blocked off to her right and one completely open to her left, but the chunks of floor floating above her and forming makeshift pillars made it hard for her to concentrate. 

“The distortion is getting stronger. The treasure has got to be nearby!” Mona exclaimed from behind Violet, and she barely had time to fully accept what was going on as she saw Joker nod from beside her and turn towards the open entrance to the left.

“Does all that asshat think about are asses and chests?” Violet heard Skull mutter as she followed after Joker, and she broke her attention off of the black haired teen to fully see the busts of women’s chests on either side of her, their breasts perked up and waists slim. Immediately she felt her throat constrict and her mouth burn slightly.

‘This… this is how he sees women…’ Violet thought, her eyes landing on the pillars in the next open, shifting room, and she nearly doubled over in disgust. The pillar was made in the shape of a woman wearing red underwear and a cropped white shirt with her behind stuck out, clearly the main focus of the structure. 

“Violet, are you okay?” Violet blinked rapidly as Joker’s voice broke through her cluttered mind, and she looked up to his eyes staring directly back into hers. His face was the same as always, calm and emotionless as he looked down at her, but Violet could see, deep in his grey eyes, a hint of concern, of worry.

“Y-yeah…” Violet shakily affirmed as she struggled to straighten herself, averting her eyes as much as she could from the disgusting statues around the room.

“We have to keep going, so make this push you on,” Joker said, and Violet looked back towards him just as he turned to his right and stopped yet again. 

“What’re you lookin at, Joker?” Skull asked, and Violet moved towards him and peered through a set of open doors into a small room with a strange looking platform with a red lever in the center of it. spanning most of it. “The hell? Is this some sort of trap?”  
“It could be a hidden room! Let’s go check it out, Joker!” Mona countered, an excited grin on his face as Violet looked down as she saw four of those disgusting busts surrounding the platform. However, she fought through her own disgust as Joker began moving into the room.

‘I can’t hold him back… I have to be strong... But…’ Violet’s thoughts trailed off as she stepped onto the platform and stopped next to Joker as his hand fell upon the lever and pulled it down. Instantly, the opening in the fencing behind her rose up and the platform began moving downwards.

“Where… where are we now?” Skull asked as the elevator came to a stop, and Violet turned to see red stairs leading downward and branching into a narrow hallway and another set of stairs continuing to lead down. As she followed Joker down the first set of stairs and towards the second, Violet caught a glimpse of a painting of Kamoshida that made her stomach drop. He was shirtless wearing his red cape, but she didn’t see much else of it, nor did she want to, as she hurried after Joker down the set of stairs and leading to another platform. However, this one was made of wood and seemed less sturdy, but still had a lever in the middle of it.

“Doesn’t work,” Joker said plainly after pulling down on the lever, and he turned around and began walking back up the stairs without so much waiting for the others as Violet followed after him.

“What the hell is this?!” Panther exclaimed in disgust as Violet followed Joker down the narrow hallway and towards the painting of Kamoshida. “This is disgusting…”

“Either way, it’s suspicious that this is a dead end,” Mona said, and Violet looked at Joker as he approached the painting and pushed his hand into the painting. 

“Follow me,” he said, and without warning dove at and through the painting as it rotated slightly. Violet’s body moved on its own as she did the same, and she found herself rolling to her feet right next to Joker at the top of the stairs in the Foyer. “There should be an open room over here…” Joker mumbled, the other three soon jumping through the painting as Violet walked next to Joker as he made his way to the right.

“Senpai, there’s one of those ram’s heads! Maybe that has something to do with the elevator that wasn’t working?” Violet asked as she peered into an empty room beside the ram’s head.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Joker nodded, walking past Violet and stopping in front of the ram’s head as he pulled down on the hoop. Violet looked up at the opening in the wall above the ram’s head as something began moving. 

“Are those gears?” Panther asked behind Violet.

“Yeah. Nice work, Violet.” Nothing more came from Joker as he turned and exited the room, returning to the painting as Violet stayed right beside him. She couldn’t help herself as she felt a slight rush of pride; she was actually right about something. She was doing something to help, even if it was something small.

Dashing through the painting and walking towards the wooden elevator once again, Violet found herself with a slight spring to her step. She stopped right next to Joker, the other three behind her, as he pulled the lever, and the elevator began descending.

‘I’m so stupid, to feel that good about something that small… But my heart won’t calm down,’ Violet thought, shifting slightly in place as she glanced over at Joker. His eyes were focused as he stared out in front of him, so Violet let her eyes stay on him. However, she looked around as the elevator slowed to a stop and Joker turned towards the crumbled pathway leading to the right.

“Let’s go,” he said as he stepped out of the wooden lift, and Violet made sure to stay in step with him as they turned the corner to see a massive circular room with a narrow pathway that snaked around cages and rushing water in the middle. Rushing waterfalls surrounded the room, forming miniature lakes around Violet as she walked with Joker towards another door with vines covering it.

“Another Will Seed behind that door, Joker!” Mona announced, but Violet felt her cheery mood dissipate as she saw the golden Shadow standing tall in front of it.

“There’s a strong Shadow. Be ready, Violet,” Joker said, strutting towards the Shadow as Violet saw his knife form in his hand.

[“There you are! You’re not taking another step!”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqFaCDvHxU4) The Shadow announced, already beginning to spasm.

“I guess we’ll just have to step on you first! Let’s do thi–”

As Panther was shouting, the Shadow collapsed into the standard pool of black ooze, and Violet found herself nearly getting sick again as a green blob shaped like the head of a penis burst from the miniature lake of blood.

“Violet, snap out of it!” Joker shouted, and Violet shook her head as she saw his black tailcoat fly behind him as he rushed at the Shadow with his knife outstretched and grabbed hold of her rapier as she reached up to her mask with her other hand. 

“Cendrillon!” Violet called out, feeling her Persona form behind her as she ripped off her mask and kicked off the stone ground as she saw Joker sink his knife into the disgusting Shadow and rip it straight across. However, little damage seemed to be done to the Shadow as it directed its attention towards Joker, who jumped out of the way of a burst of energy hurtling towards him and that decimated the chunk of stone he was standing on.

“Go!” Violet yelled, and felt her hair fly around her head as Cendrillion rushed past her. The orange energy began surrounding the Persona’s legs as it approached the Shadow, sinking the blade-like appendages into the fleshy exterior of the Shadow.

“Watch out!” Violet couldn’t react to Panther’s warning in time as another burst of energy rocketed towards Cendrillon as the Persona ripped itself free, but she felt little pain as a strange dark red light surrounded the Shadow as the attack connected with Cendrillon.

“What… what happened?” Violet asked as she finished calling Cendrillon back into her mask, but she realized she didn’t have time to think as another arrow of energy was now being directed at her. She tumbled out of the way as the energy sent the chunk of stone she was standing on into the rushing waters below, and Violet felt her stomach drop as she looked back up at the Shadow.

‘We’re not doing anything to it!’ Her mind raced as a streak of electricity and a gust of wind flew over her head and connected with the Shadow, cutting into and through it, but it still seemed unphased as it’s gross eyes locked onto her.

“Violet, pay attention! It’s focusing on you!” Joker yelled, and Violet felt her skin crawl as the Shadow shifted itself closer to her with its eyes growing sharper. “Bicorn!”

Suddenly, just as a shot of energy was forming in front of the Shadow, the ground began shaking as the Shadow was forcibly shifted to the side by Joker’s Persona ramming into it. No blood splattered out nor did the Shadow acknowledge any sort of pain, and Violet was beginning to feel like it was invincible just as Joker turned towards her.

“Violet, Skull, help me push this thing off!” Joker commanded, turning back towards the Shadow just as a shot of energy slammed square into his chest. “Urgh…”

“Senpai!” Violet screamed, but Joker held out his free hand before she had any chance to run towards him. 

“Just do it!” Joker shouted, his voice strained as he straightened back up. As Violet stared at him, she saw a small amount of blood dripping down his chest, and her vision sharpened as her eyes shot back onto the Shadow.

“Rebellion!” The word was ripped from her throat as she violently tore off her mask, feeling her blood boil as she willed Cendrillon to rush towards the Shadow.

“You got it, man! Captain Kidd, Tarukaja!” Skull shouted, but Violet barely heard him as she forced Cendrillon to dodge past a barrage of energy from the Shadow.

“Tarunda!” The same strange energy surrounded the Shadow just as one of the energy spears slammed into Cendrillon, but once again Violet felt next to nothing as she kept her focus solely on the Shadow.

“Panther, attack the Shadow with me!”

“Okay! Agi!”

“Garu!”

A pillar of fire erupted around the Shadow as the ball of flames and gust of green winds connected at its base, stopping all of its attacks from firing at Cendrillon as the Persona began rushing towards it alongside Bicorn and Captain Kidd with a reddish energy surrounding the pirate Persona. As they rushed towards the Shadow, the pillar of fire petered out, and Violet threw her all into Cendrillon, willing the Persona’s entire energy infused leg to slam into the Shadow’s body as Captain Kidd and Bicorn rammed into the Shadow beside the Persona. The sheer force of the triple attack sent out a rush of winds all around the room as the Shadow flew towards the ring of rushing water.

A distant shriek filled Violet’s ears as she saw the Shadow get crushed by the intense waterfall, only followed by the rush of the waterfalls as the Shadow’s black blood began mixing into the lake. Violet let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as her mask reformed onto her face, and she turned towards Joker as she saw him moving out of the corner of her eyes.

“Are you okay, Senpai?” Violet asked immediately, reaching up to her mask to heal him, but once again stopped as he held up his hand.

“Yeah, I am, so save your strength,” Joker responded, his own mask back on his face as Violet made eye contact.

“But–”

Just as Violet was going to continue arguing, Joker reached into his coat and procured a medicinal bottle with the words “Takemi Medical Clinic” written on it, and poured the liquid inside on the small wound after popping the cap open. Instantly the wound closed up and the blood began to dissipate, and Joker turned towards the door as he threw the empty bottle into the pool of water surrounding them. “No more arguing, let’s go.”

Violet followed behind Joker as he cut the vines off the door and pushed it open, revealing the third and final Will Seed sitting atop the pedestal of pulsating vines coming from the ground. Walking into the room, Violet’s stomach began acting up once again as she stared at Joker; how was he going to react to the Seed this time? However, she said nothing as Joker reached out for the Seed, and instantly rushed to his side as he stumbled backwards after grabbing hold of the skull object. The blue light poured from the center of the Seed was barely noticed by Violet along with the rest of her wounds healing and any mental strain dissipating. In Joker’s hand wasn’t just the single Will Seed but all three of them fused together, sitting comfortably in his palm, but Violet saw the blankness in Joker’s eyes, the complete lack of awareness that usually filled the orbs. 

“Senpai? Senpai! Senpai, what’s wrong?!” Violet asked, taking another step forward, mere inches from Joker’s face now, but she didn’t have space in her mind to even acknowledge the proximity. “Joker-senpai, please!”

Suddenly and without warning, the light in Joker’s eyes returned as Violet saw him blink slowly. Small beads of sweat covered his brow, and Violet could see something deep within his grey eyes. She couldn’t place the exact emotion, but… it scared her. 

“Are… are you okay, Senpai?”

“...You… you didn’t see any of that?” To her surprise, Joker’s voice was shaking slightly.

“See what?” Violet tilted her head to the side, the feeling deep within her gut worsening even more.

“It’s… it’s nothing. We need to go.” With that, Joker turned suddenly, his coat flapping behind him, and hurriedly left the room. 

“What do you think it was, Mona?” Skull asked as Joker left Violet’s vision, but she didn’t follow after him.

“Something about Kamoshida, probably. It must have been something awful if it’s shaken him that badly,” Mona offered, taking a step towards the exit of the room as Skull began to follow. However, the blond turned and looked backwards, his eyes landing on Panther who was staring at the ground with her hands clenched into fists.

“We gotta keep goin’. We’ll make that bastard pay, alright?”

“...” Panther said nothing, only nodding her head slightly as Skull turned back towards the open door and the two blondes made their way back towards the lift, and Violet followed behind both of them.

‘Senpai… What… what did he see to make him like that?’ Violet thought, Joker’s eyes clear in her mind as she made her way onto the lift. She knew what she saw in his eyes; she had seen that look before, when Kamoshida was taunting him in the courtyard and when that strange armor covered his body.

Hatred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter, and boi was it long! Combat chapters are longer than other chapters, and this had two mini bosses, so I feel 9k words is fair for it. Thank you all for reading and giving me your kind words, they really push me to keep writing!


	14. Unwanted Knowledge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MENTIONS OF RAPE, SO DO NOT READ IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE THE SUBJECT!  
> I completely understand if you cannot stomach the subject and can post a summary if anyone wants one, just ask me in the comments.

_ “No, please stop!” _

_ “C’mon, Suzui… Just relax for me. I’ll make you feel reeeeal good…” _

_ “Please… Please stop!” _

_ “Just give me what I want and don’t make a fuss, alright?” _

_ “No… N–!” _

_ “If you keep screaming like that, everyone will know what a slut you are. Do you really want th...at” _

Joker’s eyes slowly opened as he found himself back in the Palace and staring into another large, distorted room, stone blocks scattering the room. One Shadow was patrolling through the center of the room, and Joker could see another door beyond where it was walking.

However, his focus was off. His mind continued to playback what the Will Seed showed him, over and over again. His disgust for the man; no, monster, evolved past what it once was. 

What he did to that girl…

What Joker was forced to watch, through the eyes of that horrid creature…

_ “I can’t wait to get into that gymnast’s pants… Just imagining how tight she must be is getting me all excited!” _

“What th–?!”

“Arsene!” Joker roared as he kicked the now maskless Shadow to the ground, slamming back to the ground as he tore his mask off. The world around him was a blur, all except the two Shadows in front of him rising into the air. Both were identical to one another as they rose swiftly into the air, their white wings flapping gracefully behind them. However, Joker hardly even attempted to make out their figures as his eyes widened, feeling his hair flow wildly around as two tendrils of cursed energy shot overhead towards the two Shadows still attempting to regain their bearings. “Die.”

No emotion registered on his face as Joker watched calmly as the dark energy began tearing through the angelic Shadows. Screams of agony were ripped from the Shadow’s throats as their dark blood splattered onto the ground around them, only being followed by silence as the cursed energy snaked up to their heads, crushing them in an instant and leaving the bodies to fall to the ground before disappearing.

“What… what was…” Mona began asking, the tiny pattering of his feet being overshadowed by rushed footsteps, and Joker closed his eyes as the familiar presence drew closer to him.

“Senpai?! Are… What… Is everything okay?” Violet stuttered, her voice circling around Joker until he could feel her directly in front of him.

_ “Takamaki is sexy as hell, but that gymnast? I would kill to have a night with her.” _

_ “Well, it’ll happen soon enough. I always get my way.” _

_ “Hell, why not both of em at once? Havin’ both on their knees in front of me would be gr–” _

“Senpai!”

Joker’s eyes shot open as Violet’s voice shot through his head, and Joker felt the concern emanating from her eyes as their gazes connected.

“Senpai, what’s wrong?” Violet asked again. Joker attempted to pull his eyes away, to step around her, to do anything to get away, but his body wouldn’t do as he said as his mouth opened.

The ripping of clothes.

The muffled screams.

The fear in her eyes.

It was too much. He wanted; no, needed, to let everything out, to cleanse his mind of the experience, but he couldn’t. The constant deep voice was gone; everything he just did was on his own volition. He couldn’t give two shits about the girl he saw, but the actions itself, seeing through the eyes of that monster throughout the horrific act…

“Nothing,” was all Joker said, his fists tightening as he shifted his attention onto the next door and began moving past Violet. The only sound that filled his ears was his heels hitting the cold stone for a few moments, but as he reached the door and creaked it open he heard four sets of footsteps approach him and even saw Violet’s crimson locks out of the corner of his eyes.

‘She doesn’t need to know what I heard… No, no one does,’ Joker thought, his eyes scanning the next room. It was remarkably similar to the previous ones, but there was a large gap in the room separating it into two along with another Shadow with a red aura around it.

“Violet, can you fight?” Joker asked without turning, already knowing the answer as his knife formed in his hand and he flexed his legs, preparing for ambush. 

“Yes, I feel fine actually,” Violet said, and Joker stopped himself as he was about to leap into the air. Before the last fight, his body and mind felt completely refreshed.

“Was it the Will Seeds?” Joker wondered aloud as a pang of mental pain struck him, forcing his free hand to his head. 

“Joker, are you okay?” Mona asked behind.

“Yeah.” Nodding, Joker forced his attention back onto the intense Shadow as he pushed aside his exhaustion. 

‘I can’t… I need to be smart still. I can’t let myself get carried away,’ Joker thought, and with one final nod sprung into action. The Shadow made no noise as Joker ripped off it’s mask, and his eyes were sharp with focus as the pool of sludge formed into yet another armored Shadow riding a red horse.

“Genbu! Bufu!” Joker yelled out as his mask flew to the ground, and a chunk of ice shot overhead and exploded onto the Shadow. Before it ever had the chance to find its bearings, it was on the ground with frost covering its body. Another wave of pain hit Joker’s mind, but he shook it off quickly as he pulled out his pistol, the others surrounding the Shadow with their weapons in hand as well.

“Are you going to talk?” Joker asked, every word filled with malice as he stared directly at the Shadow. However, it didn’t say anything as it stared back at him. “Violet!”

Joker jumped back as he called out Violet’s name, the sudden rush of energy he felt dissipating as he saw the girl staring back at him before nodding.

“Kouha!” The twin balls of light began twirling around the helpless Shadow as Cendrillon hovered over it, and Joker had to throw up his hands to avoid blinding himself as the balls exploded on the Shadow. 

As the light died down, Joker saw black blood streaming down the Shadow’s armor as it struggled to its feet, its lance directed at Violet as the crimson horse grunted in pain. 

“Again, Genbu!” Joker forced through his ever intensifying headache as his Persona sent another ball of ice hurtling towards the Shadow. The attack nearly flew past the Shadow as it began charging at Violet, but the horse’s hind legs were caught by the chunk of ice and immediately fell to the ground in front of Violet.

“Nice work, Joker!” Mona exclaimed as Joker approached the Shadow calmly, attempting to hold back the pain racketing his mind as he pulled out his pistol and directed it mere inches from the Shadow’s head.

“Join me, or die.” 

_ “N-No! Please, stop!” _

_ “Do your ears not work, you dumb bitch?!” _

Joker’s finger twitched, sending a bullet whizzing right past the Shadow’s head. “Join. Me. Or. Die.” Malice filled Joker’s voice as he inched closer to the Shadow’s face with each word, and saw a slight amount of fear enter into the previously unshakable eyes of the Shadow.

“You’ve got a lot of guts, kiddo, I’ll give you tha- Wait a second…” The Shadow trailed off, recognition entering its eyes as it shakily got to its feet. “I’m no Shadow from this place. I used to live in that there sea of the human soul! From now on, call me Berith.”

The familiar blue light encompassed Berith until it formed into Joker’s mask, flying at and overtaking his current one as Joker’s mind was completely full. Closing his eyes, Joker could feel Berith and brought it into the forefront of his mind. ‘Pure strength…’ he thought as he reopened his eyes to see Violet moving towards him.

However, as he was about to open his mouth, he suddenly was reminded of the mental strain he was currently under as his hand shot to his head with a grunt falling out of his mouth. “Joker-senpai!”

Joker was soon face to face with the redhead once again as he forced his head back up and allowed his hand to drop to his side. “Dammit, what did I do?” Joker cursed to himself, only realizing that he said it aloud as he saw Mona approach from his right.

“I think it was when you fired off two attacks at once earlier,” Mona said, but before Joker could even open his mouth the cat turned towards a door at the end of the room. “Let’s get the passageway opened up in this Safe Room while I tell you about it, alright?”

Joker simply nodded and followed Mona as the cat fully turned towards the shimmering door and began waddling towards it, jumping up and opening the door in one fell swoop.

“Mona-san, what did Joker-senpai do?” Violet asked as soon as the door closed behind Joker, and he walked over towards the table and plopped down onto the nearest chair.

“Well, you remember how you got super exhausted from putting more energy into your attacks than you’re capable of?” Mona asked as Joker barely saw him press his paw into the wall, opening the elevator-like passageway before turning back towards the rest of the room. 

“Did he do somethin’ like that?” Skull asked. “Also, I’ve tried to do that as well, use more power as you said, but I couldn’t. What’s up with that?”

Mona put his paw under his chin, clearly in thought, but Joker let his eyes close and slumped back into his chair. “It has a similar effect on your mental state, where it takes even more energy. The more targets you try to attack, the more energy it requires to do it at once. Now, for you trying to do the same thing… I think only those in an extreme state of mind, like being stressed or desperate, can reach deeper within themselves. That’s why you guys were able to use more power than what you were able to handle when you awakened, but these two…” Mona trailed off, and Joker felt numerous sets of eyes on him as he kept his eyes closed. “...Just be careful, okay you two?”

“Yeah,” Joker responded coldly, abruptly getting to his feet and turning towards the exit of the Safe Room. A wave of nausea hit him hard as he struggled to keep his balance, but Joker stepped forward and grabbed hold of the handle. “We need to go, Violet.”

Leaving the Safe Room, Joker felt Violet right behind him as he stepped back onto the stoney floor of the tower, and immediately to his right he saw chunks of stone fly from the large gap to form a sort of makeshift bridge. 

“How… how did that happen, Senpai?” Violet asked as Joker stopped.

“Who knows…” Joker shook his head and took a tentative step onto the newly formed stone ground, and again his attention was pulled to the side as a staircase formed from nothing, leading upwards to another door. 

“Kamoshida’s desires are probably causing these distortions,” Mona commented as Joker began climbing up the red carpeted staircase.

“Which means the Treasure should be up ahead, right?” Panther asked behind Joker as he reached the door and slowly creaked it open.

“Exactly! ...At least I think…”

“Large room, numerous Shadows, but should be able to sneak by them,” Joker whispered, dashing to the nearest hiding spot behind a long table and attempting to ignore the gross statues on them as he kept his eyes on the nearby Shadow. As it turned away, Joker sped towards the next table, similar to the last one and crept towards the edge and peered out. “Violet, are you there?”

“Yes, Senpai?” He didn’t need to ask, but it reassured Joker that Violet responded so quickly.

“There’s another strong Shadow up there, and it sounds like there’s another set of footsteps. Be prepared to fight if necessary, but stay close to me.”

Joker didn’t wait for a response as he slowly climbed the staircase up onto the next floor and immediately dashed behind another table, keeping his eyes on the Shadow as it looked around.

“Could’ve sworn I heard something…” Joker heard it mumble to itself before turning away from the flat line of red carpet, but Joker knew that it was probably another set of stairs.

‘Its area of patrol is too tight for us to slip by in time and I’m all out of smoke bombs… Wait.’

Joker reached into his coat pocket and procured one of the bottles containing Stealthanol and poured a glob of it onto his gloved hand before turning around to face Violet.

“Mona, you said this should help us sneak by?” Joker asked, and immediately began slathering himself in it as the cat nodded silently before motioning for Violet to take it from him, which she did somewhat hesitantly. “Try and cover yourself as much as possible with this. Mona said it should wear off quickly, so as soon as you do move as quickly as you can, alright?”

Rubbing the strange substance over himself, Joker found himself staring at his hand as it turned translucent, but shook off his shock as he saw the Shadow turn away from the stairs.

“Stay close, Violet!” Joker whispered before kicking off the ground, rushing towards the stairs as they rose up towards the next door. 

“Hm? Who’s there?!” Joker didn’t stop running as the Shadow’s voice filled the room until he reached the top, taking a short breath at the door to try and calm his mind down before turning. As he did, Joker saw Violet rushing to his side with the other three following close behind her, their forms shimmering slightly, and soon all four were caught up with Joker.

“That’s useful…” Joker muttered as he turned towards the door and slowly opened it.

“More stairs?” Skull whined as, yes, there were more stairs leading even further upwards and to the left.

“Quit your whining,” Mona reprimanded the blond, and before the two could even think about arguing Joker began his ascent upwards, Violet right next to him as they reached another open room. As Joker made his way into the room, he noticed a precarious room branching off to his left with a metallic bridge being held up by large chains. He also noticed large blades positioned on either side, and continued to move forward.

‘We shouldn’t go that way unless we need t- Shit…’

As he continued his way around the circular room, he was forced to stop as the stone suddenly flew upwards and blocked the pathway completely. “Should we go back, Senpai?” Violet asked as Joker looked up and down at the barrier.

“That’s our only option for now, but be careful,” Joker said, turning and walking back towards the opening into the precarious hallway. As he slowly approached it, the guillotines suddenly activated, narrowly missing his nose as Joker stuck out his right arm, stopping Violet in her tracks.

“Whoa, that was close! Wait… what is this?” Panther asked as Joker moved himself and Violet backwards away from the swinging blades.   
“It’s a security measure to stop us. My tail might be in danger if we try to force our way through…” Mona trailed off, shivering slightly as Joker’s eyes locked onto a familiar looking statue of Kamoshida.

“Oh yeah, same for Panther’s… Well, no way we’re gettin’ through this as it is, so what now?” Skull asked, and Joker approached the statue just as Mona opened his mouth. 

‘No eyes, but it seems like it's connected to some sort of chain,’ Joker thought, placing his hand on the state’s lower jaw and pulling it down. A second passed by, but nothing happened as the guillotines continued swinging, and he let go of the jaw before moving backwards next to Violet.

“Yeah, there was no way it would be that easy. We’ll have to look for some sort of key again…”

“Really? Dammit, that’s irritating as hell…”

“Joker-senpai?” Joker’s head swiveled towards the redheaded girl standing next to him and saw her staring up at him, concern deep in her eyes.

“What’s up?” 

“Um… I-I’ll do most of the fighting for you, so… so don’t overexert yourself… please…” Violet’s body was shaking ever so slightly, but her eyes were steadfast as she never broke eye contact. 

“...Alright,” Joker said, nodding as he turned around with Violet doing the same in tandem.

‘What’s up with her? She shouldn’t care this much… But there’s no use talking her out of it either. She wouldn’t listen,’ Joker thought, and his hands tightened into fists as he already knew what was coming.

“Senpai, where do you think the keys are?” As the horrible image began to manifest, Joker’s mind cleared as Violet’s question rang throughout his mind. He forced himself to blink rapidly as he began to climb down the stairs, the other three following close behind.

“I would assume strong Shadows would be holding onto them,” Joker responded, reaching out for the door and opening it to see the room prior down below. The two Shadows were still patrolling the same area on the upper level, but as Joker and Violet climbed down the stairs, he found that the nearest Shadow couldn’t notice him from up above.

“Stay close, Violet,” Joker whispered, receiving a nod before he dashed towards the nearest chair, Violet right by his side. The Shadow didn’t notice them as they dashed from chair to chair, and Joker rolled out from behind the final green seat and onto the small staircase. “There’s our target.” Down on the first floor, Joker laid eyes on one of the gold plated Shadows, it’s red plumes sticking out from its helm serving as a further indication to it’s prestige. 

“Right behind you, Senpai!” Violet whispered, and without any further hesitation Joker leapt onto the Shadow’s back and tore off its mask.

“Hey, that’s the Shadow from before!” Skull announced as a spear wielding Shadow wearing red armor and riding on a black horse rose from the black pool of liquid, and Joker grabbed hold of his knife as he landed next to Violet.

“Mona, make sure those two Shadows stay up there,” Joker commanded as he reached up for his mask, Arsene clear in his mind. ‘I vaguely remember it being weak to electricity…’

“Hey, I got this thing!” Before Joker could send Arsene towards the Shadow, a streak of electricity arced over the Persona’s head and crashed into the Shadow’s chest. Joker watched as it stumbled backwards before the steed fell to the ground with a loud thud as the ground shook slightly from its weight.

“Skull, pass it off!” Joker yelled out, but only received a blank stare from the blond as they locked eyes. “Call out to someone!”

“Oh right! Put your hand up, Panther!” Joker saw the energy transfer from Skull to Panther as their hands collided, and the fireball that slammed into the Shadow was larger and more intense as it flew through the air as Panther ripped off her mask.

“What?!” Panther yelled in surprise as the Shadow slowly got to its feet, its body slightly scorched but still fine as its eyes locked onto the blonde.

“Arsene!” Joker commanded his Persona, and a dark green energy surrounded and filled the Shadow as two shots of energy flew towards Panther. “Dodge!”

The blonde barely was able to jump out of the way as the energy exploded the piece of ground she was just standing on, sending numerous chunks of stone all over the floor.

“Th-thank y–”

“Skull, keep knocking it off balance! Use that power for yourself while Violet attacks with you!” The string of commands filled the room as the Shadow began preparing another attack, its movements slowed as another arc of electricity shot towards it. Blood splattered onto the ground around the Shadow as it fell back to the ground, and Joker could see Skull’s face presperating as he prepared another attack. “Skull, stop for now! Violet, hold until I tell you to go! Dream Needle!”

Through his intense focus, Joker didn’t notice the pain in the back of his head as Arsene twirled in front of his, sending hundreds of tiny energy needles towards the subdued Shadow. As the needles connected, Joker saw the Shadow’s eyes begin to close, and the battlefield was silent as the barrage ended.

“Violet, now!” Without any more words, Joker saw Violet rush towards the Shadow with Cendrillon flying overhead, its legs beginning to glow with energy as Violet pulled back her rapier. He barely saw what happened as the pair sent out a flurry of attacks, Violet stabbing the large steed as Cendrillon slashed twice downwards before impaling both its legs through both parts of the Shadow. As the Persona ripped out its energy infused legs, the Shadow fell completely limp before dissipating into dust and black blood.

“Daaaaaamn, what the hell was that? Did you make it fall asleep or somethin’?” Skull asked behind Joker, his heavy footsteps easy to identify over the other two’s following behind. However, Joker felt the full intensity of the mental strain he was under and moved forward, not needing to hear Skull’s excitement at the moment.

“Is that… an eyeball?” Panther asked behind Joker as Violet approached the pile of dust from the other side, and Joker bent down and picked up the object in question: a glassy eyeball.

“Do you think this is one of those keys, Senpai? The statue up there didn’t have any eyes,” Violet mentioned, stopping a few steps in front of Joker.

“Yeah, but we need another one.” Joker nodde as he pocketed the object and began to walk towards the next door.

“Wait up, man!”

“Hold on!”

Joker pushed through the door as the blondes’ voices followed after him, Violet right beside him as he entered into the familiar room.

“Stay low, Violet!” Falling into a crouch, Joker’s eyes locked onto three Shadows toward the edge of the room, all identical to the one he just fought.

“What do we do, Senpai?” Violet whispered as Joker began to move towards the staircase, keeping his gaze leveled on the Shadows.

“We only need one more key, so we’ll only need to fight one. Joker, do you have a way to discern which one has it?” Mona asked behind Joker, but before he could respond the three Shadows suddenly turned towards the nearest door and stomped out, leaving the room completely empty except for the five.

‘One of them had another orb floating inside them,’ Joker thought as he descended the stairs, forcing his Third Eye closed as he reached the ground. ‘That should be the one.’

“Um… Senpai?” Joker looked over at Violet as they moved across the open room towards the door, and he could barely conceal his confusion as he saw the same concern still on her face.

“Yeah?”

“U-um… Y-you’re s-sweating… a little bit… Please… please let me handle the next one…”

Joker raised an eyebrow at Violet as he stopped completely in the middle of the room. He hadn’t noticed the perspiration on his face until she had brought it up, but that wasn’t picking at his mind as much as why Violet was showing so much concern.

“I can still fight, so that won’t be an iss- Ah!”

A rush of pain suddenly flowed through Joker’s chest as he flew backwards, completely disoriented as he landed on his stomach. 

“Se...i!” He could barely hear Violet call out to him over the ringing in his ears, but something else began overshadowing even that as his mind began flaring with pain.

The usual voice did not appear, but deep down Joker could feel a fire being lit within him as he grunted through his gritted teeth. Liquid flowed from his chest as Joker barely held himself off the ground with his arms, and it didn’t take him very long to realize that it was blood as the dark red pool gathering underneath him came into view. He attempted to pull his head up, but it was as if his body was working against him as he continued staring at the ground. 

Despite, or perhaps due to, the pain, Joker’s eyes widened as an empty smile began forming on his face; he’ll kill every single Shadow he saw if he had to. Anything to rid himself of this pain, to ease the pounding in his mind. Through the pain and depths of exhaustion, Joker’s feet planted into the ground as his body screamed in agony, but it barely compared to the hell that was his mind. 

Everything around him was blurred; everything except the Shadow towering above him. The red seeping into Joker’s vision nearly blotted everything out in an instant as Joker’s hand began closing, a hot and cold handle forming within. Along with the blood pouring from his chest, something began to seep out from the holes in his mask. The pain plaguing his body suddenly vanished as everything went numb, nothing left to feel as a cool mist covered his body.

**_Finally, it is time. Time for our pact of blood and hatred to finally be ma–_ **

“Stay… Stay away from Senpai!” All the pain, the suffering that had dispersed a second prior came rushing back as the red vanished from Joker’s vision. He had heard Violet, but… it didn’t sound anything like her. The desperation in her voice, the unnatural screech; it didn’t belong to the girl he thought he knew.

“Vi...et?” Mona’s voice, much in contrast with Violet’s, was weak and barely reached Joker as his knees buckled and he fell back to the ground. However, he forced his hands to stop his fall, keeping himself on his knees as his head shook with exhaustion. The figures he saw in front of him were blurred to the extreme, barely passing as humans, and a cat, but more as colored blobs, but Joker could discern the one in the middle as Violet as an explosion of blue flames ruptured in front of her.

“You… Don’t… Don’t also take him away from me !” Again, the high pitched screech from Violet sent a chill throughout Joker’s body, but he couldn’t do anything but watch as his body was nearing its limit. “Kou… Kou… Kouga!”

Joker’s blurred vision was suddenly covered completely with an intense white light, blinding him for a brief moment. However, just before his vision went completely, Joker saw two streaks of light shoot towards the Shadow, sharp enough that he could see them clearly even through his blurred vision.

He was left with an even worse ringing in his ears as the light dispersed and the blurred room returned to normal, only without the large Shadow standing at the front of the room. However, any strength that he had remaining was ebbing fast as his head was the first to give out, forcing his eyes back onto the ever growing pool of his own blood beneath him and reminding him of the hot pain still present in his chest.

“A-ah!”

“Jo...r! Vio...t!” Mona sounded even further away as Joker hit the ground, his arms out to both sides as his body wouldn’t move anymore. “D...a!”

Joker could not see the green energy encircling him, but he felt a soothing wave of relief wash over him as the wound in his chest closed completely. His vision cleared and the ringing dispersed as Joker found his strength returning to him, but the mental strain from before was still present as he pushed himself off the ground once again.

“Violet!” Immediately, his eyes landed on the redhead clad in black laying on the ground, and he broke out into a sprint towards her still body. His mind was whirring; what did she do? Why did she do it? However, everything was blotted out as she stirred slightly, and Akira landed on a knee right beside her as her eyes slowly opened.

“Sen...pai? You…’re...ok...ay…?” She asked, her mouth barely opening as her eyes connected with Joker’s. “I’m… I’m so… glad…”

“Violet, what happened?” Joker threw out any attempt at subtlety as he leaned closer to Violet, not even realizing the amount of worry within his own voice.

“I… wanted… to help…”

“That attack was way too big for her mind to keep up! It’s not looking good for her at the moment, Joker!” Mona exclaimed as Violet’s eyes began to close again and, without thinking, Joker threw his hand into his coat and ripped out two cans of soda.

“Violet, drink these,” Joker said as calmly as he could, opening one of the cans and setting the other one down on the ground as he tilted Violet’s head up. ‘Hopefully this works the way I think it does.’

Thankfully, Violet opened her mouth as Joker gave her a little sip of the bottled beverage, and he could see a little color return to her face as her eyes fluttered open slightly. The tension in his body released with every sip as Violet’s eyes continued to raise up, and as the bottle emptied completely Joker let out a noticeable sigh of relief as Violet began lifting herself off the ground.

“Hey Joker, we need to go now before the other Shadows notice us! Skull grabbed the other eye already!” Mona whispered urgently.

“Violet, can you move?” Joker asked, not bothering to acknowledge the cat as he continued to stare into her ruby eyes. 

“I-I can try, but… Eep!” Not allowing Violet to finish, Joker forced his hand under her legs and scooped her up before dashing towards the staircase. His chest still felt sore and his body sluggish, but he easily was able to climb up the stairs and reached the door with Violet in his arms. “S-S-Senpai! P-Please put m-m-me down!”

“We needed to move and move fast, sorry,” Joker responded as he did as Violet wanted, noticing her flared up cheeks as he removed his arm from under her legs slowly. Steadying her with his other arm, Joker let go of the shaky redhead and took a step away from her. “Here, drink this one as well. It seemed to work.”

Nodding silently, Violet took the other soda from Joker’s hand and slowly drank it all down. Even more color returned to Violet’s face around the red adorning her cheeks, and the constant swaying from her seemed to calm slightly as she looked up towards Joker. “Th-thank you, Se-Senpai. I… I don’t know what came over me… I just… wanted to be useful for on–”

“Stop saying that, because you’re more than useful. We’re friends, Sumire; don’t feel forced to overexert yourself,” Joker interrupted Violet and, ignoring the clearly deliberate cough from Mona as he dropped code-names, he saw her eyes shimmer slightly.

“O-okay… But, are you alright, Senpai?” Violet asked as Joker opened the door, and, after a moment’s pause, nodded his head before continuing onward. He dashed from cover to cover through the next room, a few Shadows missing from the two leveled areas as the trek to the staircase was much simpler, and in a matter of no time he found himself walking through the next door leading towards the swinging guillotines. 

Was he truly okay? His body still ached and the mental fatigue still rattled his mind, but something deeper was still amiss. ‘That voice… What does it want from me? Why does it show up at seemingly random points in time?’ Joker questioned internally, but his thoughts were cut short as he found himself in front of the eyeless statue. 

“Skull, give me the other eye,” Joker said, his face deadpanned as he held out his left hand. Without looking, he felt the glassy orb be placed in his hand as he grabbed the matching one with his right hand and locked both of them back into their respective sockets. As they were fitted into the statue, the eyes blared to life and gave off a yellow light, but Joker ignored the creepy gaze and pulled down again on the jaw of the statue. Instantly, the sound of the swinging guillotines stopped, and Joker saw the fruits of his labor as he saw the pathway now clear of the metal deathtraps.

“Senpai, we did it!” Violet’s voice was weak, barely reaching Joker’s ears despite the fact he was right next to her, but he simply looked over and gave her a nod.

“We should be nearing the end, if the treasure really is around here,” Joker responded as he led the way across the still perilous bridge, keeping his eyes on Violet as he made sure she walked beside him, but they reached the other side without any issues and were met with hopefully the last staircase.

“Gettin’ real tired of these things…” Skull groaned, and for once, Joker felt the same way. His legs were beginning to tire and his chest was tightening with every breath, but he forced himself to stay at the same quick pace up until they reached the top of the stairs. 

“Seriously, more?” This time, it was Panther’s whining that Joker aligned with as he was met with even more stairs after pushing through the door.

“U-um… Senpai?” Before taking his first step, Joker froze and turned towards Violet. “I… I don’t think I can climb a-anymore… C-c-can I-I-I…” Violet’s stuttering came to an end as Joker walked towards her and turned around.

“Grab on,” he said plainly, and a set of shaky arms slowly wrapped loosely around his neck as he reached behind himself. A startled yelp came from directly behind Joker as he picked up Violet, sending a quick shot of pain through his mind, but he shrugged it off as he continued his ascent up the stairs with Violet now on his back. Joker felt a slight amount of dull pain as Violet shifted slightly with every step, more irritating than actually painful, but that didn’t mean Joker wasn’t relieved as the stairs ended, leveling out into a crescent shaped room with a large, gold ornamented door in between two of the perverted columns.

“Joker, the treasure is extremely close! I also feel a safe room nearby!” Mona whispered as Joker looked around the room.

“Is it beyond this door?” Skull asked, but before he could even begin to walk towards it Joker moved in front of him. “What’s up?”

“That’s the Throne Room, idiot! It’s gotta be full of guards!” Joker turned back to where he was looking as Mona reprimanded Skull, and his eyes eventually landed on two openings on either side above the door.

“Violet, hold on tight,” Joker warned as he approached the left column and, grabbing hold of it, pulled himself up twice and found himself on a flat slab of marble. As he jumped to the next platform underneath the opening, Joker felt Violet tighten her grip around him and he instinctively did the same with the remaining arm wrapped around her left leg.

With a soft thud, the duo landed on the soft carpet of the upper deck of the large and lavish room, and Joker instantly fell into a crouch as his eyes flew towards the man that had been plaguing his thoughts the entire day. 

“How have you not captured the intruders yet!? They’re just scum!” Shadow Kamoshida roared in anger, and Joker could see the rage in the Shadow’s eyes before he turned towards the narrow pathway towards the front of the room.

“Let’s just go,” Joker whispered, mainly to himself as he willed his right leg forward.

“I apologize, my liege!”

“It appears they are trickier than we initially thought!”   
“They will be captured!”

The slew of apologies and excuses made Joker sick as he spotted a large door behind where Kamoshida’s Shadow’s throne rested. It took a small breath in order to calm whatever nerves he was feeling as he continued towards the door. Joker knew that the Shadows wouldn’t see him from where they are, but he still made sure the door was quiet as he slowly opened it, revealing a small room and an even bigger door blocking his way.

“Senpai, y-you can p-put me down n-now,” Violet stuttered directly into Joker’s ear, and he immediately complied, letting her slide off his back and gently find her footing right behind him. Joker turned and made eye contact with Violet as soon as she let go of him only to have her eyes dart away, another dusting of red across her cheeks.

“...This is it, right Mona?” Joker asked after a moment, the silence between him and Violet palpable as he turned his attention towards the cat. However, instead of responding, the cat waddled over towards the next door and pushed it open.

“Whoa!” Skull exclaimed as the next room was revealed, and Joker raised an eyebrow at the sheer amount of gold scattered on the ground.

“Who needs all this gold in the first place?” Panther asked as the five made their way into the room, stopping directly in the center.

“Where’s the treasure, Mona?” Joker asked again, his voice cold as he stared at the cat. Yet again, the cat didn’t answer him as he jumped onto a giant golden trophy laying on it’s side, but before Joker could coldly ask once more he spotted a shimmering cloud of… something above Mona. “Is that it?”   
“Bingo!” Mona exclaimed proudly, placing his paws on his hips and grinning up towards Joker, but the black haired teen simply walked towards the treasure and reached out for it.

“But… Joker’s hand just went through it,” Violet mentioned as, indeed, Joker’s hand phased through the cloud without disturbing it at all.

“A person’s desires have no physical form by nature,” Mona began explaining, gaining Joker’s full attention as he pulled his hands out of his pockets. “That’s what this cloud is; their desires. However, to make it turn into a physical object for us to steal, we first need to make them aware that their desires are in fact a Treasure. Once they’re aware that their desires might be stolen, the Treasure will finally show itself.”

“And then we’ll steal it!” Skull exclaimed, pumping his fist in front of him as an excited grin crossed his face.

“How’re we going to do that, though?” Panther asked.

“We warn them by saying ‘We’re going to steal your heart,’” Mona announced, his grin growing wider as he made eye contact with Joker.

“So a calling card…” Joker murmured to himself, nodding before returning his attention back onto the strange cloud.

“That’s totally something a phantom thief would do!” Skull was nearly bouncing with excitement as Joker glanced over at the blond and found himself turning around back towards the open door.

“We’re done here, let’s get out and rest,” Joker said, mainly to Violet as she was still swaying even while standing completely still. Exiting the room, Joker kept his focus up until he was in front of the safe room at the end of the crescent-shaped room when suddenly Violet grabbed hold of his shoulder and let out a gasp.

“Violet!?” Joker moved quickly to keep Violet steady as he saw her legs shake, and the color that had returned to her face slowly began leaving it once again.

“The effects of that drink must be wearing off. The Metaverse enhances their effect on us, but with that huge attack Violet used it was only a matter of time before the consequences resurfaced,” Mona said, but Joker barely heard him as he kicked open the door to the safe room, slinging Violet’s arm around his neck as he led her towards the corner of the room. He hurriedly pressed his free hand onto the loose brick, opening the connected lift and leading Violet into the contraption as it reformed instantly to fit both of them and the other three as they followed without a word.

“W-when are we going to s-send the c-calling c-card, S-Senpai?” Violet asked as Joker helped towards the exit of the Metaverse with the Palace looming behind them.

“I’ll work on it tomorrow and then we’ll steal the treasure on Friday. Make sure you rest up tonight and tomorrow,” Joker responded, pulling out his phone as they reached the alleyway where they enter and exit from. “Do you need help getting home?”

“I… I sh-should be o-okay…” Violet stuttered, but Joker shook his head as his thumb hovered over the Meta-Nav. 

“I’m going to walk with you until you reach your neighborhood. End of discussion.” Before Violet could get out a counterargument, Joker pressed his thumb down and the five thieves exited the Metaverse, ragged and tired as they went their separate ways.

* * *

“Hey, Kurusu-kun, can I… can I talk to you about something?”

Akira looked up from the pile of materials on the rooftop desk he was working at to see Takamaki standing between where he was sitting and the exit. With one glance he could tell she was nervous, and Akira placed down the smoke bomb he was working on and turned fully towards the blonde as she continued her approach.

“How’s Yoshizawa-san?” Takamaki asked, looking around the rooftop before her eyes fell back onto Akira.

“She’s better,” Akira responded dryly, crossing his legs as he stared blankly at the blonde. At the start of the day he had received a text from Sumire telling him that her parents were forcing her to stay home, at least for the school day due to how exhausted she was and how she nearly collapsed when she came home the previous night. A part of Akira actually felt a pang of jealousy and nostalgia towards her parents' worry, but he pushed aside that feeling as he blinked slowly at the blonde. “What do you want?”

“Um… What you saw yesterday from the Will Seeds…” Akira blinked rapidly as he immediately got the image of the girl out of his mind. “Did… did you see Shiho?”

“...Yeah.” Akira nodded as he turned towards and began putting all of his materials back into his bag.

“Was… was it with…”

“Yeah.”

“So… You saw…”

“Everything…”

Silence fell between the two as Akira grabbed hold of his heavier bag and stood up to face the blonde girl to see her shaking violently. Her fists were clenched and her eyes shut closed, tears pricking at the sides as they threatened to flow down her face. However, Akira didn’t comfort her as he began walking towards the rooftop door; he couldn’t. Nothing would comfort her in that moment, and even if something would, he still couldn’t. 

“What…” Akira stopped as he reached for the door handle but didn’t turn towards Takamaki as he waited. “What would you do if… he… did that to Yoshizawa-san?”

Akira stopped as his chest flared up, the heat spreading throughout his body like magma as he stared at the door, unblinking.

_ “Such a sexy body…” _

_ “What I wouldn’t give to have her…” _

_ “Man, a threesome with her and Takamaki would be grand…” _

His skin chilled as his blood continued to get hotter as Akira bore a hole through the door with his stare, his eyes wide open as he took a small breath in.

“I’d force him through hell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo... a bit of an intense chapter. A lot of you wanted to know what Akira saw and, well, this is it. I was already dreading this chapter, and the first 500 words reaffirmed my complete disgust with Kamoshida. But don't worry, he'll get everything coming to him next chapter(proceeds to play Life Will Change until I get chapter 15 done). I hope the small moments between Akira and Sumi make up for Kamoshida being awful, subhuman trash, and see you all next time!


	15. War Against Lust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The great sinner of lust has been driven to the point of madness with his power, trampling on those he sees as lesser and taking whatever he feels he deserves. His reign ends this chapter with the Phantom Thieves clash against this demon.  
> From, Dev0ted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: There is music used in this chapter, and I should explain the system I am using. The music is connected via link in the story and there should be a (Start song) and (End song) in their respective places within the chapter. For the last song, Lullaby At Dawn, please put it on repeat if at all possible since I could not find an extended version of that song. If you wish to listen to another song you feel may fit better, go right ahead! This is only meant to enhance your reading experience, and if you have any suggestions feel free to tell me in the comments!

_“Sir Suguru Kamoshida, a great sinner of lust whose taste for the limelight has driven to madness. You prey on those you see as lesser for nothing more than your own personal gain. Your boundless heinousness leaves us no choice but to force you to confess all your crimes with your own tongue. We will steal your desires without fail._

_From, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts.”_

Akira stared at the billboard full of the black and red cards scattered all over, his eyes emotionless as he crumpled up the calling card in his hand before turning around.

“Senpai?” Sumire’s quiet voice came from his right, weak and tired, but caught Akira’s attention immediately as he directed his attention towards her. 

“What’s up?” As he looked down, Akira couldn’t avoid the look of awe in Sumire’s eyes, but he managed to keep his nonchalant facade up as he began to walk away from the board.

“Well… um… What do you think is going to happen to Kamoshida?” 

Akira pulled his hand up to his chin, closing his eyes as he mocked deep thought. “Hm… I don’t know. ‘The Phantom Thieves of Hearts’? Sounds strange...” 

“It also said something about stealing desires…” Akira noticed the faint traces of acting within Sumire’s voice as they made their way towards the staircase, but a stolen glance around him allowed him to relax.

“Is Mr. Kamoshida in trouble?”

“Who would do something like this?”

“Is it the demon girl and the evil transfer student?”

“That was my first thought, but even they look confused…”

‘Perfect, those morons don’t suspect a thing,’ Akira thought, maintaining his faux confusion as he stopped halfway down the hallway and turned towards Sumire. “It doesn’t concern us at all, though, so don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, I won’t,” Sumire nodded, and Akira was able to see the bags under her eyes as she stared up at him. “We should get to class, Senp–”

“YOU TWO!” 

Akira’s body worked autonomously as he gently pushed Sumire behind him, instantly feeling her hands clutch onto his still tender back as he was face to face with Kamoshida.

“Was it you two that put up these things!?” Kamoshida roared into Akira’s face, flecking spit across his forehead as the teacher’s face was mere inches away.

“Those? Why would I bother with that?” Akira asked, forcing all the genuineness he could into his voice as he held his eyes steady. He wasn’t going to lose this battle; not again.

“Don’t play dumb with me! You! Don’t you know anythi–!?”

“You leave her out of this, or you won’t like what happens.” Akira instantly dropped all pretenses of innocence as he intercepted the man’s face, his eyes filled to the brim with pure malice as he stared straight through the eggplant headed man’s eyes. “I don’t give a shit what happens to me, but don’t. Lay. A. Finger. On. Her.”

“W-what did you say to me, t-trash?!” Kamoshida roared into Akira's face, but Akira could see his pure fury breaking as fear crept into his eyes.

“You heard me,” Akira barely whispered, letting out a low growl as he felt Sumire’s nails dig through the gauze on his body and into the small holes in his back.

“Hey! Back the hell away from them!” 

Akira had heard the two sets of footprints approaching even before Sakamoto shouted out, but still felt a slight amount of relief as Kamoshida backed away to look at the two newcomers.

“Sakamoto, stay out of this and get to cl- Takamaki!? What the hell are you doing with him?!”  
“Mr. Kamoshida, please get away from them,” Takamaki purred, her voice shaking as she spoke, but it still sent Akira’s gut into somersaults as he watched the man’s face in front of him soften.

“...tch, fine,” Kamoshida spat on Akira’s feet before turning violently around on his heels. However, as he began stomping away, he stopped and Akira’s eyes locked onto his. With a sudden flash, the Kamoshida standing in front of Akira shifted into his Shadow as the world around him turned to black. 

“Come, take it if you can!” The Shadow barked, a scowl plastered over his usual smug face. Then, just as quickly as the world shifted, it returned to normal as Kamoshida stomped away.

“His Palace is on high alert now! We have to be careful in there, alright?” Akira recognized the high-pitched voice coming from his bag and nodded slightly, even though he knew the cat couldn’t see him.

“Be ready, you two,” Akira stated as he stared forward, eyes focused on nothing but still sharp as he received two “Right”’s from behind before hearing the blondes walk away. He held his body still, his fists still clenched when he was reminded of the redhead behind him as a rush of pain flowed from the holes in his back. All of his attention was turned from Kamoshida’s Shadow towards Sumire as he could feel her hands trembling on his back as her rapid, short breaths hit his neck, making any pain he felt negligible as he tried to turn around. However, as he did, his chest was filled with a small but constant pain as Sumire dug her nails and buried her head into his chest.

“Sumire, it's alright. He’s gone now,” Akira said, trying to muster all the reassurance he could manage into his voice, but Sumire only dug her nails deeper into his chest, making him wince in pain as his hand came up almost naturally to her head. However, before it landed, Akira froze, keeping his hand perfectly still as he looked down at the girl.

“I-I’m so-sorry S-Senpai… I-I couldn’t h-help y-you…” Sumire continued to tremble, and Akira could feel two wet spots going through his blazer and into his shirt. “I-I’m s-so useless… A-aren’t I, S-Senpa- Eh!?”

Whatever was holding Akira back was either gone or was overpowered as his hand fell gingerly onto Sumire’s head, and instantly the girl looked up at him with two watery red orbs.

“Stop saying that, because it’s not true,” Akira said, his hand static on top of Sumire’s head as he stared into her glistening eyes.

“U-Um… O-O-O…” Sumire stammered out, a small amount of red forming on her cheeks as Akira’s eyes focused more on her own.

“You help me and I help you; that’s how friends work, right?” Akira tried to muster a genuine smile, but his mouth only formed into a halfhearted grin.

“R-r-ri-right!” Sumire managed to say, releasing her claws from his chest as her eyes lit up slightly. However, she didn’t back up as more of her face turned the light shade of pink already dusted onto her cheeks, and Akira slowly drew his hand off her head as he saw the tremors being sent through her body dissipate. As he did, he couldn’t prevent his face from scrunching into a frown as Sumire’s face formed into a semi pout.

“...Alright, we need to go,” Akira finally said after a brief moment of silence, taking a step away from Sumire and towards the stairwell before stopping. “Get any rest you can in class today, got it? You… Let me do most of the fighting today.”

“But Senpai...!” Before Sumire could continue with the blossoming argument, Akira walked away hurriedly, his mind already focusing on the Treasure as he made his way to class.

* * *

Even before walking up the stairs to the Palace, Joker could feel the intense security it was under. ‘It might just be me, though,’ Joker thought, shaking his head as he approached the open passageway to the right of the main doors.

“Joker, are you sure we’re ready?” Mona asked behind Joker as he stopped in front of the passageway. “We don’t know what’s in store for us, so we need to be careful.”

“There’s nothing else to prepare for, but here.” Reaching into his coat, Joker grabbed four bottles of medicine he bought from Takemi’s after infiltration the night before and tossed one to the four behind him. “If you end up getting injured, use that before any healing spells. Conserve your energy, but also don’t hold back. Violet,” Joker paused, making eye contact with the similarly clad girl standing beside him. “I’m counting on you.”

“Right!” Violet exclaimed, and Joker nearly let a grin onto his face as he saw her eyes sparkle with energy before turning towards the open passageway and stepping in. 

The ride upwards was short, only taking around ten seconds, but it felt like an eternity to Joker as he stared at the shifting stone a few inches from his face. ‘Berith might be good to start… Rakukaja, huh?’ Joker thought as he remained unblinking, and finally the makeshift elevator came to a stop and opened up to reveal a safe room.

“Alright, I’m ready to kick some ass!” Skull shouted excitedly, his oversized pipe in hand as he rushed for the door, but Joker was quick to grab hold of his collar.

“Calm down. We’re here for the Treasure, not to fight,” Joker replied calmly, though it was hard to keep his composure as his mind was racing so quickly he could barely keep up with it.

“Thank god you have a level head… What Joker said, we’re not going to kick his ass! If he’s not there, we may not even fight anything today!” Mona reprimanded the blond, but Joker could see the excitement still on the blond’s face as he turned him around. However, he couldn’t blame Skull; his blood was already pumping and he was unconsciously spinning his knife in his hand.

“Follow me, but stay quiet and keep your eyes sharp,” Joker said as he made his way to and out the door, finding himself staring at the crescent shaped room leading towards the Throne Room.

“Huh? The door’s wide open and there aren’t any guards around…” Panther muttered behind Joker as he took a tentative step into the room. His vision and hearing were sharp as he scanned the sexualized room, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. However, that only set him more on edge as he walked up the staircase behind Kamoshida’s Shadow’s throne and towards the door leading to the treasure.

“Hm?” Joker let out as he laid eyes on a large, floating crown in the middle of the room.

“Is… is that the Treasure, Joker-senpai?” Violet asked right beside Joker, but before he could answer a black blur rushed across his vision and jumped up and down in front of the crown.

“See! The Treasure did appear, just as I said! Now we can steal it!” Mona shouted excitedly. “Ahh… This shine brings tears to my eyes…”

“It… kinda pisses me off,” Panther uttered in a low voice, and Joker stole a glance to his left to see the blonde’s body tensed up and her fist’s clenched. “Why’s it so damn pretty? Isn’t this Kamoshida’s desires?”

“T-Treasure…”

“Mona-kun, what’s wrong?” Violet asked, drawing Joker’s attention between the redhead and the cat simultaneously, and he saw that Violet was also tense while Mona was shaking in… excitement? However, before Joker could get a word in, the cat sprung off the ground and flew towards the Treasure.

“Meeeeeeooooooow! Mrrrrrrooooooow!”

“Get off that,” Joker sighed as he reached up and yanked Mona off the oversized crown by the scruff of his neck. 

“Meow, meow! Mewwwwww!”

“Hey, stop!” Joker hissed, gritting his teeth as he shook the cat roughly.

“M-Meow!?” Mona shook his cartoon head in shock before looking back at Joker. “H-hey! Put me down!”

“Fine, but be quiet,” Joker sighed, releasing his grip on the cat and allowing him to land gracefully back on the ground.

“F-forgive me for displaying such an insolent sight in front of two ladies…”

“That ain’t anything like how you usually act. What’s up with that?” Skull asked, and Joker could see Violet shift uncomfortably right next to him.

“I… I don’t know, and I couldn’t stop it either… To think I would be drawn to human desires this much…” Mona whined, but suddenly perked up as Joker caught his large blue eyes. “Doesn’t this prove I’m human?”

“It doesn’t matter, we’re wasting time,” Joker shot back, reaching the limitations of his patience as he strutted towards the Treasure. “Violet, Skull, Panther, grab hold of this. Mona, get the doors in front of us, and for the love of god keep quiet.”

Whether it was because of the scowl on Joker’s face or the irritation in his commands, silence fell over the five as the four humans grabbed hold of the treasure, letting out small grunts as its entire weight fell onto them at once.

‘Heavier than it looks…’ Joker thought as he began moving, but noticed Violet struggling to his right as they approached the first door. 

“Violet, let go and keep watch with Mona,” Joker said nonchalantly, already moving in between his previous spot and Violet’s as the girl stared at him for a second before nodding. 

The Treasure was heavy and awkward to hold, but it wasn’t anything too overwhelming as Joker was the first of the three holding onto it to move out into the Throne Room. A string of exhausted grunts left Joker’s and the two blondes’ lips as they took the crown down the stairs, and Joker allowed his arms to rest somewhat as he began moving past the Throne.

“Skull, Panther, dodge!”

Joker had heard the heavy footsteps behind him before looking behind himself, but barely had time to let go of the Treasure before the ball made contact, sending the heavy crown to the ground with a loud thud.

“Go, go, Kamoshida!”

Hands empty, Joker allowed his knife to flash into existence as he watched Shadow Kamoshida soar overhead, landing on the platform where his throne sat. Within a second, the large crown he and the two blondes had been carrying had turned into a smaller, more manageable one within Shadow Kamoshida’s grasp, and Joker felt a low rumble build within his throat as he saw the bikini clad version of Takamaki rush to Kamoshida’s side and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I won’t let anyone take this!” Shadow Kamoshida roared, flipping the crown in his hand as a smug grin covered his face. “This proves I am the king of this castle; it is the core of this world!”

“That rat bastard…” Joker didn’t turn his attention off Shadow Kamoshida, but he could hear the strain in Panther’s voice as she spoke. “That’s how he sees me, isn’t it!? As some… sexualized doll?!”

“Hey perv, waitin’ to ambush us?” Skull shouted from Joker’s right, but still his sole attention was on Kamoshida’s Shadow.

**_He’s the one that caused all of this…_ **

**_Now would be the time to accept my gift…_ **

**_Say the word, and no one will be able to stand up to y–_ **

‘Shut up,’ Joker said forcefully towards the internal voice, silencing it in an instance.

“-ht here, right now,” Shadow Kamoshida sneered, spitting on the ground right at Joker’s feet.

“That’s our line, you sexually harassing d-bag!”

“What a selfish misunderstanding…” The Shadow chuckled, making Joker’s blood boil as his knife hand twitched impatiently.

“How is it a misunderstanding?! You were doing things that you kept in secret from others!” Panther shouted back.

“People around me were the ones who kept it a secret. They willingly protect me so that we may all profit from it.”

“P-profit?” Violet gasped, finally drawing Joker’s attention off Shadow Kamoshida for a split second, and any patience he had left for the monster in front of him left as he saw the pure disgust on her face.

“There are too many imbeciles who don’t understand that just like you, peasant! I could have given you whatever you wanted if you hadn’t chosen that trash’s side over mine ow–!”

“Don’t talk about Joker-senpai like that!” Just as Joker was about to intervene, Violet took a step forward as she screeched at Shadow Kamoshida, the same wild look in her eyes as two days prior.

“Don’t talk back to me like that, peasant! I’m a cut above the r–”

“Shut the hell up already. Fight, or get the hell out of our way,” Joker said calmly, but he was anything but as his blood was like magma as he pointed his knife towards Shadow Kamoshida. “Well? What’s your answer, demon?”

“You damn brat! What did I say about interrupting me?!” Shadow Kamoshida roared, and instantly a rush of wind picked up around Joker, making his coat fly violently around him as he put up his arms to shield himself. “But, you are right about one thing. I’m not like you! I… [I am a demon who rules this world!” (Start song)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_qs12QJlWc)

“Violet, get back!” Joker rushed over to Violet and grabbed hold of her wrist as the ground began shaking, dragging her towards the large door to the room as a large shadow overtook there’s on the ground.

“Wh-What the hell?!” Skull shouted as the winds died down, and a loud gasp came from Violet as they both turned to see what Shadow Kamoshida had become. In the place where the king once stood sat a monstrous pink skinned creature with Kamoshida’s hair, its head nearly reaching the balcony circling around the Throne room. Ram’s horns protruded from the top of its head, and in its four arms it held a golden knife and fork, a black baton, and a wine glass.

“Is… is that me in there? What the hell?!” Panther gasped, and Joker saw the strange version of Takamaki grinning ear to ear while she rolled around within the wine. 

“Hahaha! Grahaha! I’m allowed to do whatever the hell I wa–”

“I said shut the hell up! Berith!” Joker shouted, tearing off his mask as he shot towards the seemingly open pink skinned demon. “Cleave!”

“Slaves!” Suddenly, several humanoid creatures with metallic masks on their faces that surrounded Shadow Kamoshida jumped upwards, two of them taking the brunt of the damage and dissipating immediately into dust. “Hah! Like I said, we all benefit if others protect me!” 

“You’re the only one benefitin’, you bastard!” Skull shouted, and as Joker was rushing towards the giant Shadow a line of electricity shot over his head. However, just as with Berith’s attack, all of the slaves on either side of Kamoshida jumped in front of the attack, three getting killed instantly. However, Joker saw as more came marching forward, all with chains connected to their helmets to golden balls behind them.

“The ones that live continue their servitude to me, and the ones that die know they did so defending me,” Shadow Kamoshida said with mock sincerity.

“They don’t have a choice!” Panther screamed just as Joker was within a few yards from the Shadow, and again more slaves sacrificed themselves to block the ball of flames hurtling from Carmen.

“Now it’s my turn! Slaves, hit the one rushing towards me!” Shadow Kamoshida roared, and Joker’s eyes widened as a barrage of volleyballs hurtled towards him. Each one barely did anything by itself, but Joker felt a slight amount of blood begin to trickle down his chest as the final ball hit him, pushing him backwards as he forced himself to find his footing.

“Don’t worry about me! Find a way around those things!” Joker yelled before Violet could call out his name, bringing back Berith into his mask as Kamoshida’s Shadow sat at the front of the room with a smirk on his face.

“Joker, there should be a small window of time when the slaves attack to hit Kamoshida! They also take time to move up when the slaves protect Kamoshida!” Mona called out from behind Joker, and all he could do was nod as he summoned Arsene.

“Sukunda!” A dark green energy surrounded and filled into Kamoshida’s Shadow just as the slaves began to jump into the air, and Joker noticed all of the balls begin to move slower as they flew through the air. “Violet, dodge!”

The redhead barely tumbled out of the way as the barrage of volleyballs hit the area she was just standing at, but Joker had his eyes back on Kamoshida as Arsene was rushing towards the Shadow. 

“Argh! You… You piece of shit!” Shadow Kamoshida roared as Arsene slashed twice across its gross chest, black ooze drizzling out from the wounds as Joker willed Arsene back into his mask. “Slaves, do your job or I’ll kill you myself!”

“What… what’s wrong with him?” Violet questioned from Joker’s side, and Joker would have felt the same indignation if it weren’t for the searing hot feeling flowing through his body.

“Skull, Panther, Mona, give us any support you can! Violet, attack with me!” Joker shouted, brandishing his knife as he kicked off the trembling ground towards the enraged Shadow. 

“Grr… You’ll pay for this!” Joker saw the golden knife heading his way long before it actually struck the ground as two red auras surrounded the combatants, a bright red around Joker and a darker red around Kamoshida’s Shadow, and flashed his own knife across the fleshy arm, cutting deep into Kamoshida’s skin as his knife flew straight threw it like nothing while he barely felt the golden knife graze his stomach. “Gahh! My arm! Need… Need something to eat…”

“Huh?” Joker’s eyes widened as he watched Shadow Kamoshida stab into the golden chalice in front of it, picking up a pair of squirming feminine legs before sticking it into his mouth.

“That’s better!” Shadow Kamoshida laughed, and Joker couldn’t fully react in time as a flash of gold blazed across his chest again, leaving a line of red in its wake as Joker was forced backwards once again.

“Dammit… Did it heal?” Joker muttered to himself as he watched the slaves send another wave out, with a few slamming into Mona as they began to speed back up. ‘Panther should have made him weaker, but that last attack hit harder than I expected.’ Applying some of the medicine from Takemi, Joker breathed a slight sigh of relief as the pain in his chest eased and the blood began to dissipate, and was forced to squint slightly as a flash of light decimated five slaves that had jumped to Shadow Kamoshida’s defense. 

‘There’s not as many slaves as there were before… maybe fifteen left? And that cup healed all the wounds that the Shadow had on him.’ Without further thought, Joker flipped around as he strafed in front of the Shadow, releasing his knife in favor of his slick pistol in an instant, and sent five rounds straight into the chalice.

“H-Hey! You don’t know what this is worth, so stop touching it! This is the only time I’m warning you!” Shadow Kamoshida roared as chunks of gold flew from the chalice, revealing even more of the disgusting legs further down within the large cracks of the oversized cup.

“Violet, focus your attention on the chalice. I’ll back you up!” Joker shouted as he passed by the girl, another wave of fire and electricity being fired over the battlefield only to destroy five more slaves.

“Got it!” Violet responded, and Joker could see sweat already running down her face as she replaced her rapier with her short rifle before rushing forward towards Shadow Kamoshida.

“Mona, take over on attacking! You two, conserve your energy!” Joker commanded, stealing a glance behind him to see blood dripping from both Panther’s and Skull’s arms as well as sweat falling freely from their faces.

“Show your might, Zorro!” Mona shouted, and Joker turned to follow behind Violet as a rush of green energy cut into four slaves as well as slicing somewhat into Shadow Kamoshida’s chest.

“How the… Work harder, you morons!” The Shadow roared, his baton rocketing towards Violet as she continued dashing towards him.

“Arsene!” Again, the dark green energy surrounded Shadow Kamoshida as the baton nearly squished Violet on the ground, but a barrage of volleyballs was heading her way as she slid out from under it. “Go!” However, Joker willed Arsene in front of the vulnerable redhead just as the high speed balls reached her.

“Senpai!” Joker immediately waved violently at Violet as he saw her begin to turn around, the attack taking the air from his lungs as he doubled over in pain, but luckily his gesture got the point across as Violet raised her rifle towards the damaged cup and peppered it with ten bullets in the span of under a second. A momentary pause fell over the Throne Room as the chalice shattered completely and totally, sending the writhing legs all over the ground in front of Shadow Kamoshida as the golden chunks fell to the ground with numerous loud thuds.

“N-Nooo! How dare you!” Kamoshida’s Shadow roared, rage deep in his eyes as he stared directly at Violet. “Dammit, I need a drink now…”

“Zorro, again!” A small rush of the green energy bit into Kamoshida’s flesh again as less slaves jumped in the way, leaving only four left, two on either side of the Shadow. However, the attack did not interrupt Shadow Kamoshida from drinking down the entire glass of wine, spitting the other version of Takamaki back into the glass and giving her a final lick with his oversized tongue.

“Alright, you no-good, selfish brats! It’s time for your punishment!” 

“Agh!” 

“Skull! Dia!”

In an instant, Joker saw the Shadow’s knife flash past him and turned to see Skull on his knees, a deep gash across his chest with Mona rushing to his side. However, as he was returning his attention back towards the Shadow as the green light began stitching back together the blond’s chest, Joker felt his cheek open further as he twirled to the right. The rush of pain didn’t break Joker’s concentration as Joker wiped the fresh blood already flowing down his cheek, but the force at which the knife came at him instantly made him concerned.

‘He’s powered up now…’ Joker thought quickly, his hand grasping onto his mask as Arsene faded back into his mind.

“You’re next!”

“Rakukaja!” Berith burst from the blue flames in front of Joker and a purple energy swirled around Violet as Joker watched the Shadow’s disgusting tongue extend, slamming into Violet and forcing her to slide backwards.

“What the hell? You should be on the ground by now begging for your life!” Shadow Kamoshida roared, flecking saliva all over the room in rage as he pulled his tongue back in.

“Joker-senpai, what now?” Violet asked shakily as Joker rushed over to her, pouring some of the medicine on her arms as she grabbed hold of her rapier once again, and he couldn’t help but notice the strain in her voice and the shaking in her legs as he glanced over at her.

“He’s running low on slaves and we have him in a corner. We need to keep pushing, but don’t overdo i–”

“Dammit, fine! Slave, get your ass out here!” 

“What the–!” Skull shouted as a familiar blue haired boy came from seemingly nowhere, holding a volleyball in his hands. “Mishima?”

“Don’t let it fool you, Skull! That’s just Kamoshida’s cognition of him!” Mona shouted, and Joker called back Berith as his hand flew back up to his face.

“S-Sorry, King Kamoshida!” The cognitive version of the boy yelped.

“Alright Mishima, now toss the ball to me! Someone as useless as you should be able to do something like that!” 

“Everyone, brace yoursel–”

Mona was far too late as the cognitive Mishima set the volleyball high into the air, and Joker could barely see Shadow Kamoshida move as he was suddenly behind the ball. Time slowed as Joker’s eyes widened, and his attempt to protect himself was for nothing as he was completely engulfed in a large explosion.(End song)

“Ahhhh!” Screams of pain echoed within Joker’s head as the explosion cleared, and he found himself falling to his knees before hitting the ground, all his strength gone. He could feel the blood seeping from his body as he tried to push himself up, but he could only manage to get his head raised to see the monstrous being looming over him.

“G...h! Th...t sh...ld ha...e kil...d y...u a... out...ht! I g...d da...n kn...w you w...e wort...ess, M...ima!”

“I… sor..y, Ki...g Kamo...da!”

“N...t sl...ve!”

Joker could barely see anything through his blurred and watery vision, but he was able to make out a feminine form approaching Shadow Kamoshida with another white object in their hands.

“K...g Kam...shida, I’...e bro...t y...u yo...r ba...l, ju...t li...e y...o ask...d.”

“Shi...o?!” Panther’s voice echoed faintly in Joker’s head, full of shock and terror, and his blood ran completely cold as he forced all of his remaining energy to focus on the new girl.

_She was the one he was forced to watch..._

High pitched ringing filled Joker’s ears as he opened his mouth in an attempt to scream, to let out the sudden rush of mental pain he was under, but nothing came out.

_He watched from that monster’s gaze, and now…_

“Se...ai?” Joker stopped his squirming on the ground just long enough to look over and see Violet’s blurred form on the ground a few yards away. 

_It could’ve happened to Sumire…_

“A-Ah!” Joker let out a choked back scream of pain as his mind felt as if it were being ripped in two. His body was hot yet cold, his blood like molten rock yet his skin like ice. Then, in an instant, everything stopped.

All the pain he was under…

Kamoshida’s Shadow…

Everything came to a halt around and within Joker as he stared at the ground, his tears rushing freely onto the carpeted floor and forming a large pool underneath him. He no longer cared.

He no longer cared what happened to Kamoshida… to himself…

He wanted;[(Start song) no, ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq8aCkQ-AfM) [ **needed** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq8aCkQ-AfM), an escape from the torment, the doubt, plaguing his mind and body.

**_Yes… It is finally time for you to experience true power…_ **

**_You have been living in agony…_ **

**_Alone and Shattered is the state of thy soul…_ **

**_Within you I am born from flames of rage and hatred, yearning to be free and grant strength unbound…_ **

**_Finally, you reach for me…_ **

Dark flames filled Joker’s vision as he stared at the ground, and the liquid falling from his face evaporated as he stared at himself in the small pool formed by his own tears. His eyes were blackened and lifeless, but as the flames burning around the corners of his vision continued to grow, a new color appeared from nothing within the center of his eyes: red.

**_What else is there for you?_ **

**_Life?_ **

**_Happiness?_ ** **_  
_** **_No… The only company you shall ever have is your pain…_ **

**_With this pain, you shall gain the strength to conquer this so-called “king” in front of you and rise above the filth of humanity…_ **

Wordlessly, Joker began to push himself up, his broken body screaming at him to stop, but his emotionless face remained stoic as his feet planted firmly into the broken stone. A war was being waged within Joker’s body, mind and soul, the victors gaining control over him as his back straightened and he faced the pink demon with nothing on his face.

**_So… I shall ask once more…_ **

**_Will you take up your blade, Despised Warrior, to slay those that oppose you in order to conquer even the Heavens?_ **

**“You know my answer,”** Joker spoke in a low tone, but it was his own voice as he slowly raised his right hand upwards.

“The shot that saves the world!” Kamoshida’s Shadow shouted proudly, soaring up into the sky behind another set volleyball. The sound from the impact was deafening as it seemed the Shadow put everything he had into the attack, but Joker remained still as he fully extended his arm.

“W-what the h-hell?!”

A shockwave was sent out from Joker’s open hand as the volleyball came to a stop, his body not shifting an inch as the burning rubber continued spinning within his grasp. Black smog began encircling Joker, originating from the center of his being and working all around him as the same substance began pouring from his mask. Darkened scales began to form from the smog as it clung to his body, spikes protruding from his shoulders as the dark armor took full form around him.

“How did yo- AH! My… My arm!” Shadow Kamoshida screamed in pain as Joker spun around in an instant, the ball cutting through the Shadow’s arm holding his golden fork, and a moment later it hit the ground with a thud with a hole created in the ceiling behind the Shadow as the ball soared into the sky. Joker stared into the monster’s eyes, his own filled to burst with hatred as he straightened himself again. “How the hell did you stop that attack?!”

**_They all left you, one by one, until there was nothing left of you._ **

**_You have no one._ **

**_Nothing._ **

Nothing came from Joker’s mouth as his face was completely covered in the black scales, the teeth in the ajar maw of his helm dripping with a red liquid as his eyes began to shimmer. Then, gusts of wind exuded from Joker as he took a step forward, feeling the lava flowing through his veins etch into his skin as his right hand began to close.

“S-Suzui, quick! Give me another ser–!”

Where the Cognitive Shiho once stood was now two halves turning into blood and dust laying on the ground, and Joker slowly let his greatsword drop to his side, pulsating with rage as a fiery red streaked across the black blade. A cross formed where the two lines of energy met each other, spiraling around the blade as Joker stood completely motionless in front of the monstrosity.

“W-What the hell do you wa– Ahhh!”

The burning energy sent out from the edge of the blade tore off another arm from Kamoshida’s body, this one holding his wine glass as the Cognitive Takamaki was impaled by the large shards of broken glass, quickly disappearing into dust and blood.

“I-I’ll give you a-anything, so please! Don’t kill m–!”

Joker had the previously imposing Shadow on his knees, his two remaining arms clasped together in front of himself as Joker came to a stop. Then, without any hesitation or effort, dropped his blood red blade onto Shadow Kamoshida’s right shoulder.

“AHH!!!” The pain of the monster echoed within Joker’s mind as he watched his blade sink easily into the pink flesh, severing the second to last arm from Shadow Kamoshida as cries and whimpers of pain were rushing out of his mouth almost as fast as the blood from his three stumps where arms used to be.

**_There is no redemption for anyone that betrayed you; only blood and vengeance._ **

**_That goes for him as well._ **

Joker looked past the bleeding Shadow and towards the four remaining slaves, all shaking in absolute terror by the two golden balls they were chained to. Joker lifted his left arm and opened his clawed hand between the two pairs of terrified slaves.

Nothing was left of them as the miniscule energy Joker let out enveloped all four, even decimating the golden balls they were attached to as the tiled floor was stripped away.

“Why… why are you doing this to me?” Shadow Kamoshida whimpered, his voice pitiful compared to the roar he was at mere moments ago.

**_See the weakness in his eyes, pleading to you, the being he despised the most._ **

Lifting his greatsword over his head and grasping it with both his hands, Joker stared down at Shadow Kamoshida.

“W-W-Wait! P-Please, I-I’ll rescind the expulsions! I-I’ll make sure your name is not only tread upon but lifted up! W-We could rule this dung heap togeth– A-AHH!”

Joker’s blade sunk into Shadow Kamoshida’s flesh easily as he left it positioned within the demon in his right shoulder blade.

**_After this one, go onto the next. Make them all pay for the hell you’ve been through._ **

Slowly pulling his spiked chunk of metal from the pitiful Shadow, Joker watched the Shadow dissolve into black mush before reforming to Kamoshida’s true Shadow, lying on the ground where the demon had once been with bloody scrapes and bruises littering his body.

Joker reached down and roughly grabbed the Shadow’s hair and brought it to eye level. Through the red lenses, Joker could see nothing but terror within the Shadow’s eyes, tears streaming down his face and mouth open to let out an empty whimper.

**_You are above them all; with this strength, you can do what you want. This, my fellow warrior, is the only way you can live from now on._ **

Joker’s red eyes began glowing more intensely as he forced Shadow Kamoshida to stare at him, squeezing the Shadow’s head as a silent scream came from his mouth. 

**_You are not here to bring him to justice; no, you are here to tear down those that tore you to shreds, that left you a husk of what you once were._ **

Letting go of the Shadow, now whimpering on the ground and releasing a river from his eyes, Joker positioned his blade over top of the Shadow’s head, its red and black gleam shining off the light from the chandeliers above.

**_He is finished, broken and terrified as you once were. Now do it: End hi–_ **

“S...pai, please!”

‘Su...mire?’ (End song)

The armored teen blinked as he opened his mouth within the darkened helm, but he couldn’t let anything out as his body froze.

Joker had never experienced such pain before. His body was filled with complete and utter agony as every part of his being felt like it was being skewered, freezing in place as he felt the spikes in his body pushed even deeper.

“Ak...a-senpai, c...me ba...k! D...n’t do it, ple...se!”

“ **St** ...o **p** …” Joker let out, his hands trembling as he finally felt the two arms wrapped around his right arm.

“This… This isn’t you! You’re kind, sweet, and caring deep down, but… but you’re in pain!”

Violet’s voice was battling with the splitting agony in Joker’s mind as his greatsword fell out of his hands, landing harmlessly right next to the shivering Shadow at his feet. 

“ **S** t...o **p** … i **t** …” Joker pleaded, grasping his head as he felt the spikes dig even deeper.

“I… I know you don’t want to let anyone near you, but… but I know how you feel! So…”

“ **N...o** … N...o… mo...r **e** …” He could see the blood seeping out of his armor, the fiery red that had previously seared onto his armor now gone as Joker looked at himself in horror.

“ So even if… Even if you feel everyone is against you… Know that...” Joker stared out ahead as Violet paused, and he felt the hands on his legs release as he was suddenly face to face with her, her mask up as her honest red eyes pierced through his darkness.

[ (Start song) “Know that I believe in you.” ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkbxslFzL8Y)

Joker’s mouth hung open, and he could feel the spikes beginning to retract from all over his body as black smog began billowing off him. As he stared at the girl, the red in his vision disappeared and he was able to see the exhaustion written deeply into her face, but… she was smiling. It was a smile that spread warmth throughout Joker, that reminded him of…

Home.

_“Sweetheart, it’s okay to feel angry at Goro, but a good man always finds a way to move past his anger. And… I know my sweet little Aki is a great man.”_

Tears that previously had dried up began rushing out as Joker’s mother stared back at him and his legs gave out, but instead of hitting the hard ground, he felt the tender arms of his friend catch him and lower him to the ground. They were soft, comforting, warm; everything he thought he lost. His tears flowed freely as his mask was moved upwards gently by his sole friend, allowing the well of tears to break free and clearing his teary vision. 

_“No matter what others may say about you, son, know that I and your mother will always believe in you.”_

His parents broke their word on that day, the day that Joker’s life had been ruined and torn away from him.

_“Dude, why’re you worrying? I’m not going anywhere, so you’re gonna be stuck with me for a long time.”_

His best friend ever since he was a child destroyed whatever remained of Joker’s trust, turning his back and casting him aside at the first moment he could.

“Senpai, please… Please let me know you better.”

But… this girl now in front of Joker… This redhead who he only met nearly two weeks ago… Her eyes emanated something no one else's did. 

A promise… For Akira...

The promise of a true friend.

One that knew who he was, what others thought about him, and yet didn’t care. One that formed her own opinions, and yet somehow came to the conclusion she wanted to be friends with someone as broken as him. 

“I… I want to help you. Please… Lean on me like I’ve been leaning on you.”

All the negative emotions that had been building within Joker, festering within his soul and tearing him apart, began flowing out of him as his body fell forward. However, instead of forcing himself to stay up by his destroyed arms, Joker found his head resting against the comfort of Violet’s body, her heart right underneath his tired head. 

Then, as the emotional pain within his heart began to ease, so did the searing agony pulsing through his body and mind as a light blue stream of energy began to descend upon him and poured into his body. Blood was seeping out of his tattered black coats, his skin riddled with deep gouges, but even that began to ease as the blood dried and his flesh began to cover the wounds partially. The flames of pain still echoed around Akira’s entire body, but they were kept at bay with ease as a calming aura filled his being.

“I’ll help you, no matter what, Akira-senpai,” Violet promised, her voice soft enough to just barely reach Joker’s ears but resonated within his mind.

“But… why?” The words fell out of Joker’s mouth as he gazed unblinking out of the window of the Throne Room, the steady stream of tears coming to a slow trickle as the hand gingerly wrapped around him tightened ever so slightly.

“You… You already said it, Senpai. It’s what friends do for each other, right?”

Joker turned his eyes upwards, his mouth hanging open as they landed on the radiant face of the only one that was dear to him. When he said those words, he truly didn’t think about what they meant, but hearing them for himself… 

They gave him hope. The tiniest sliver of it, but he could feel the warm, forgotten feeling being reborn within his chest. 

He had a friend, a true one. 

He had Sumire now.(End song)

“Senpai, we need to get out of here,” Violet whispered, and Joker could finally see the strain on her face hidden underneath her calm smile as his teary vision cleared. Joker could only nod as Violet gently wrapped his right around her shoulders and placed her other hand softly on his chest. The pain from the deep wounds was dulled immediately as Joker leaned against Violet, more of the sky blue energy circling around him and Violet as they returned to their feet.

“How… are the… others…?” Joker murmured through his exhaustion, his eyes slowly rolling past the destroyed Throne Room before landing on the Shadow at his feet. His disgust and hatred for the man still remained deep within his heart, but there was a new feeling in him: pity. The bruised and bloody Shadow was shivering on the ground in absolute fear, letting out no noise as Joker saw the ever increasing puddle forming beneath his face.

“Atone… for what you’ve done… Live out… the rest of your life… with a heavy heart… knowing what you’ve done,” Joker said slowly, being forced to stop as he took in raspy breaths. “Taka- No… Ann, Ryuji.” 

Joker felt Violet’s eyes shift up towards him as he called out the two blondes’ names, but he kept his eyes on the pitiful Shadow at his feet beneath him.

“Y-yeah?”

“W-what is it?”

Both of their voices sounded faint, like they were on the brink of death, and out of the corner of his eyes he could see both limp into view. Their outfits were torn with blood trickling down their bodies, and as they stopped Joker turned his head towards both of them to see their legs trembling as they struggled to keep them standing.

“Begone, Jack-o-Lantern…” Joker muttered as he allowed his eyes to close, and watched through his mind’s eye as the Persona vanished into thin air. Then, something began to shimmer where that Persona once was; a dim light that was growing with each second that Joker had his eyes upon it. 

“Senpai?” Violet’s voice barely chipped away at Joker’s concentration on the light as it grew stronger, nearly reaching his other Persona’s as two colorful wings sprouted from the center of the light, and a small chuckle escaped his lips as his eyes slowly opened. 

“Phoenix.” The calm tides within his soul remained still as a bright light began surrounding his mask, and with a flash it disappeared. “Media.”

Joker’s mind remained calm despite the pain still being kept at bay by the soothing blue light as green light began to circle around and filled Violet’s body, healing all the cuts, bruises, and gashes that were scattered around her body. 

“H-huh?” Joker could feel the two blondes approach tentatively behind him as he looked up at the large Persona floating above him, and nodded as it began to disappear back into his mask.

“He’s done… the most harm… to you both… Say whatever… you want… now…” Joker let out and, before stepping away from the terrified Shadow, his eyes flashed momentarily a light blue and he watched as the Shadow’s violent shaking came to a stop as he looked upwards at the teen. However, Joker had nothing else to say as his true friend took him to the side, and he watched as the two blondes slowly walked towards Kamoshida.

“You… You bastard…” Skull began, his body shaking as his hands clenched into fists. “You… took away my chance… my mom’s chance… at an easier life… No… Not just us… You ruined everyone who ever went against you. Seeing you in this state… I feel nothing for you.”

“Skull…” Panther muttered before turning her own attention towards the wet faced Shadow as he stared down at the ground on his knees. “I can never forgive you for what you’ve done to Shiho… But… I know you’ve done it to plenty of other girls who couldn’t find the escape Shiho did and are still suffering, who couldn’t run away… You’re nothing but dirt on the ground compared to those you’ve trampled upon.”

“A-Alright… H-here, you w-want this, right?” Shadow Kamoshida stammered, removing his crown and tossing it towards Joker who caught it with ease. “I… I lost. You… You can do whatever you want with me.”

“I’ll…” Joker watched as both blondes’ masks flashed off their faces, their personas bursting into existence behind them as electricity and fire began building within their hands.

“Senp–”

“It’s alright, Sumire,” was all Joker said as he watched the two blondes keenly, their bodies shaking as they looked down on the Shadow.

“I’ll never forgive you!” Joker’s eyes were wide as the two assuredly fatal attacks shot towards Kamoshida, and grinned as the dust settled, revealing two craters on either side of the Shadow.

“But… we need you alive. Tell everyone the shitty things you did,” Skull said, Captain Kidd disappearing as his mask flashed back onto his face.

“Shiho can’t get her justice if we kill you here,” Panther calmly said as her own Persona returned to her mask, but Joker could sense the venom in her every word.

“...Alright, I’ll atone for everything I’ve done… I promise.” With that, the Shadow began disappearing, tiny specks of light flying off of him until nothing remained. As Joker was about to let out a sigh of relief, the ground underneath him began shaking, and he could see dust plummeting from above him.

“What’s going on?!” Violet exclaimed, her voice shaking as Joker tried to find his footing.

“We don’t have much time to sit around, just so you know. But… it may be hard to get out of here with Joker in that state! Shit...” Mona began behind Joker, but his voice was filled with worry as the entire Palace continued to rumble violently.

“Violet, bring me over to that broken window,” Joker forced his voice to be steady as he spoke, and Violet hurriedly complied as he found himself staring out over the entire Palace. 

“Joker, we don’t have much time! What’s the plan?!” Mona shouted, and Joker focused as he brought his leg up as he struggled to plant his right foot onto the windowsill.

“You three have to trust me and Violet,” Joker paused as he stole a glance over towards the redhead looking at him with determination in her eyes. “Don’t let go.”

Then, without another word, Joker pushed himself out of the shattered window and immediately began hurtling to the ground. Violet had tightened her arms around Joker’s neck, but the other three were still on the quickly crumbling tower, so Joker quickly threw out his left arm to a chunk of stone that was nearly about to break off from the palace.

“Woah!”

All around him, the Palace was collapsing with stone, glass, and furniture plummeting to the ground. The three behind Joker were now connected with his grappling hook, so Joker focused solely on his surroundings with his Third Eye open.

‘There! And there!’ His grappling hook latched onto handle after handle, each breaking with nearly zero pressure put onto them, but it was enough to strafe around the debris threatening to hit Joker and Violet along with the others flying behind them. 

“Urf!” Joker grunted as he put all his strength into his left arm as he shot it out, the searing pain nearly breaking his focus as droplets of blood fell off his arm. However, the hook penetrated into the stone of the building surrounding the alleyway in front of the castle, and Joker and Violet whizzed towards the stoney wall as Joker shifted his upper body towards the alleyway. 

“Argh!”

“Shit!”

“Mreow!”

As the hook detached from the wall, Joker rolled roughly on the ground, his head swimming as he lost his place in space for a moment while coming to a stop. “Urgh…” Joker stared up at the clear blue sky with his hands splayed outwards. He knew his back was bleeding and his entire body felt frail, but… the warmth in his chest grew as he stared up at the small clouds rolling across the light blue skies. 

“Senpai! Are you okay?!” Suddenly, the blue skies were blotted out by red locks as a friendly face leaned over Akira. As he slowly opened his mouth, Akira already knew that no words were coming to him, whether it was due to exhaustion or pain or peacefulness, but it didn’t matter as he calmly nodded. 

“You need help up, man?” Sakamoto asked to Akira’s left, and once again Akira nodded, no strength left in his arms as his eyes remained unblinking up towards the sky. A pair of strong hands slowly made their way under Akira’s shoulders, causing him to wince as Sakamoto’s hands brushed up against the holes left in his skin. “Shit, my bad!”

“You’re… o...kay…” Akira managed to croak out, and was slowly moved up against the rugged walls of the building behind him with Sumire’s help as well. However, as he was situated, only Sakamoto pulled his hands away, Sumire leaving her between his back and the wall. Too tired to argue or to even speak further, Akira looked over to the redhead and nodded. Akira saw an immense level of concern in the redhead’s eyes as the two sets of orbs made contact, but he saw her nevertheless attempt to give him a smile.

“What… what did you do?” Takamaki asked, and Akira slowly moved his head towards the two blondes and the black cat. “Hey! You’re bleeding still!”

Akira could feel his own blood beginning to pool underneath him as the thick liquid began to overtake his hands, but there was nothing he could do as he shook his head. “Don’t… worry… about it….” 

As he did, Joker finally felt the heavy object within his right hand and, with nearly all his might, brought the gold medal up towards his face.

“The hell? Didn’t you have that crown in your hand a second ago?” Sakamato asked incredulously as four sets of eyes fell upon the gold medal.

“This must be what made Kamoshida’s desires distorted in the first place…” Morgana muttered, the black cat strutting up to Akira’s side as he saw his eyes widened.

“An Olympic medal, huh?” Sakamoto shook his head as he crouched down. “So that bastard clung onto his past glory and couldn’t let it go…”

“This… means his heart changed, right?” Sumire asked, and Akira’s left hand twitched as he heard the nerves in her voice.

“Probably…”

“What? Our explusions on the line here, man!” Sakamoto exclaimed, forcing Akira to close his eyes as a shot of pain streaked straight through his brain. “Oh shit, my ba- Look at the Nav!”  
 _“The destination has been deleted.”_

“Yeah, we can’t go back there anymore Senpai,” Sumire said, and Akira turned his head just as Sumire revealed that, yes, her saved history on the Nav was wiped clean.

“Well, all’s well that ends well, I hope. We did all we could, right?” Sakamoto sighed as he began to straighten up, and Akira found himself trying to get up as well. “Dude, don’t move so mu–”

“Ryuji, Ann…” The blond immediately stopped talking as Akira uttered his and Takamaki’s first names, and, with Sumire’s help, Akira planted his feet underneath himself and leaned almost entirely on Sumire as he rose into a standing position, now eye to eye with the two blondes. “I… I mis...judged you… both… I… I’m sor...ry…”

“What…” Ann breathed out, shock clearly on both her and Ryuji’s face as Akira looked back and forth between the two.

“I… apprec...iate yo...ur help… Th...ank you… Bo...th of you, a...s well as y...ou, Mor...gana…” Akira felt his throat constricting every moment he was speaking, but he knew it was necessary to speak his mind.

“Dude…” To Akira, he could see Ryuji’s eyes shimmering as their eyes met, and he nodded once before turning his heavy head towards Sumire next to him.

“Hey, you two! Let’s leave these two be for now!” Maybe Morgana thought he was being quiet, but Akira could clearly hear him as he locked eyes with Sumire. He didn’t mind at all; in fact, as the two blondes said their farewells and followed after the black cat, Akira felt the constant pain within his head ease slightly as he focused solely on Sumire. He could see the exhaustion on her face, and of course it made sense, considering what they just went through.

“Senpai… A-Are you okay?”

“I… don’t know,” Akira admitted as he felt his voice returning to him slightly, enough to speak weakly but without breaking. “Were… were you scared?”

“I… Yes…” Sumire lowered her eyes towards the ground, and Akira could see shame within the red orbs as he painfully turned his upper body towards the redhead. “I… didn’t know what to think. I tried calling out to you… as you were fighting… but you couldn’t hear me. What… what was that armor you had around you, Senpai?”

“I wish I knew,” Akira said as he closed his eyes. To say he truly didn’t know what it was would be lying, but he needed to learn more about it before sharing anything with Sumire. “Also, you did reach me. At the end. You… prevented me from doing something… I would have regretted, and you even healed me.”

“Senpai?!” Sumire exclaimed, and Akira reopened his eyes to see a light blush on her cheeks.

“Why are you blushing?” He was finally able to ask, barely able to tilt his head to the side as he saw the blush on Sumire’s face grow deeper.

“S-Senpai, d-do you have e-extra bandages w-with you? W-We should g-get you rebandaged!”

Akira raised an eyebrow as Sumire leaned down and opened up his bag with one arm, the other still keeping Akira up, but he still was brought down with her slightly as she grabbed hold of the remainder of the first wrap of bandages and an unused second roll.

“You don’t have to do this, Sumir–”

“B-But I want to! L-Let me help you, S-Senpai!” Sumire protested immediately, and that was the end of the argument as Akira resigned himself to allow his friend remove his blazer and bloody dress shirt, and looked down as a sharp gasp escaped Sumire’s mouth. “It’s… even worse than last time… Your previous bandages are all torn as well,” Sumire noted, her eyes widened as she began working, and with Akira’s compliance he was completely unwrapped with a few minutes.

“Just keep going, even if I sound like I’m in pain,” Akira said after taking a sharp breath in as Sumire looked up at him, beginning at his torso with the fresh bandages.

“O-Okay…”

Maybe it was due to her watching Takemi do it before, but Sumire worked quickly with the gauze despite the shakiness of her hands. As she worked, Akira caught a few students staring at them from the main road, but they quickly began walking away as soon as they met his weak gaze.

‘I guess that will never change… The rumors are going to start up again…’ Akira groaned within his mind, but shook his head slightly before closing his eyes. ‘It doesn’t matter, though.’

“All d-done!” Sumire announced suddenly, her red locks popping into view as she straightened up in front of Akira, her face only a few inches away from his own. “O-O-Oh! S-Sorry, S-Senpai!” Sumire jumped backwards, letting go of Akira as he saw her face light up even further, but was quickly caught again by her right arm as he began fallingto his left.

“Thanks, Sumire, but I’ll be fine now,” Akira said, nodding his head towards the embarrassed girl before meeting her eyes again as she let go of him and Akira fought to stay on his feet, eventually fully straightening himself up.

“Huh? I-It was n-nothing, Senp–”

“Not just for that,” Akira shook his head as Sumire circled around him, sliding his shirt and blazer onto his arms and over his body. “I’m not sure why you would bother to try and save someone like me from the state I was in, but… you did it anyways. If you didn’t, I would have killed Kamoshida, and… I don’t know what would have happened next, to be perfectly honest…” Akira trailed off as he moved his hand over his chest, feeling the burns his armor had left behind circling up to his arms and down his legs before looking down at the burn marks on his hands.

“Senpai…” Akira looked back up to see a slight smile on Sumire’s face. “It’s alright. We help each other when the other is in need, correct? That means… that means you would have done the same thing for me.”

“How do you know that?” Akira asked, letting out a light scoff as his eyebrows raised slightly higher, but Sumire’s smile remained steadfast as her eyes sparkled towards Akira.

“Because… I’m your friend, and you’re my friend. I… can’t explain it much further than that, but I feel… like I can rely on you,” Sumire said, leaving Akira wordless as he stared back at her, his mouth slightly agape. “O-oh! W-We should g-get going n-now, Senpai! I-I’ll walk with you back to w-where you s-stay!”

As Akira watched Sumire turn around, his legs worked automatically as he took a step forward towards the retreating girl.”Sumire.”

“What, Senp- Senpai?!” Sumire yelped as she turned around, Akira’s hand falling atop her head.

“What? Did I do something?” Akira asked, a strange feeling in his chest as his lighthearted voice bounced within his own mind for a moment.

“Y-Your h-hand!”

“Oh, sor–” Akira began to retract his hand, but quickly found Sumire’s right hand gently holding onto his wrist.

“I-I-It’s o-okay,” Sumire said with a smile as her eyes met Akira’s once again. “I-It’s n-nice…”

“Glad to hear,” Akira said, closing his eyes as he let his hand rest further on Sumire’s soft crimson hair.

“Senpai?!”

“What now?” Akira tilted his head as he saw Sumire’s eyes wide open in shock.

“Y-Y-You’re smiling…!” Sumire gaped at Akira, and in response he let out a small chuckle as focused on Sumire’s red orbs.

“I’m… I’m happy I met you, Sumire,” Akira began, looking from her eyes up towards the sky as he felt his arm beginning to tired, but he held it there nonetheless.

“W-Wha-?!”

“You’re the only reason… I can make it through each day,” Akira continued on, following a wispy cloud floating gently through the peaceful skies before meeting Sumire’s eyes one final time.

“S-Senpai?!”

“So…” Akira forced all his energy upwards as his smile grew, his first full smile since he lost his life, since he was broken so completely. “So thank you, Sumire.”

New artwork from this chapter! This was done by [DiviinePillar,](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiviinePillar/pseuds/DiviinePillar) a good friend of mine in the Shusumi discord server! Go give her some love and check out her fic!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh... My... God... This was probably the most fun I've had writing a chapter in a long, long time(with maybe the exception of the later chapters of my other fic). With this, the Kamoshida arc is coming to a close, and hoo boy have we made... not a whole lot of progress. 15 Chapters is a lot, but these characters have only been together for a little under two weeks at this point, but I suspect things will pick up between arcs, beginning with next chapter. Thank you all, so, so, SO much for your support, especially those that have left som truly kind comments. You all are a big reason why I'm so excited to keep writing this story, and I really wanted to put my all in this chapter.  
> Happy New Years everyone, and I hope you all stick with me to the end to see Akira and Sumire truly be reformed.


	16. Power of Bonds

_“Ah, it appears you have finally come to. We do not have much time, so let’s go to pressing matters that you want answers to. It appears I have… misjudged… that power that previously took hold of you. As you can probably tell, you are able to freely move about the same as you were before, with your chains perhaps being shorter in length...”_

“Kid!”

Akira’s eyes moved slowly as Igor melted away, light flooding into his retinas and forcing him to wince back from the gruff man standing in front of him. It didn’t take very long to realize his feet were touching the ground and he was sitting up in the bed with the sheets haphazardly thrown behind him.

“Urgh…” Akira made the attempt to block his vision, but found his arms heavy as his right hand fell back onto the bed beside him. His head was full of fog and Akira could barely keep it from rolling to his shoulders as he finally managed to pry his eyes open without the dull light burning his grey orbs.

“Geez... first that girl… Yoshizawa-san, if I recall… brings you in looking like death and now you fall asleep sitting up… What the hell is going on?!” Akira winced backwards once again as Sojiro’s bark sent a shockwave through his skull, and a light drizzle came from his orbs as the fog lifted back for just a moment to reveal the immense pain hiding just beneath the surface, forcing another attempt to bring his hand to his head. 

Sojiro let out a sigh as the pounding in Akira’s head was covered again by the fog, relieving him of the extraordinary pain racketing his mind. “Well, this is your last warning to get up. You’re going to school whether you like it or not, and if you don’t leave now you’re going to be late.”

Akira knew that talking back would get nowhere, especially since his voice was nearly gone entirely, and so, along with a string of grunts and sweat beginning to form on his forehead, Akira forced himself to his feet as he reached out to his phone and headphones. However, even that proved to be too much for his arms as he just managed to slip his phone into his pocket as the rest of his hand fell limply right after the device while the headphones fell back onto his bed. 

“I…” Akira let out, dragging his left hand into his pocket as he straightened himself up, or as much as he could as his eyes barely reached Sojiro’s chin. His voice wouldn’t work any further, he found, as nothing but a croak followed the single word.

“...Before you leave,” Sojiro began as Akira shuffled past the man, forcing the teen to stop and groggily turn as his footsteps approached from behind. Suddenly, a key was thrust towards Akira, taking more energy than he wanted to expend to pull his hand from his pocket to grab the lukewarm piece of metal. “Here. I can’t keep waiting for you every night to come home, so you’re in charge of locking up every night. I don’t care where you go or what you do at night, but I’m kicking you out if you make me regret giving you that, got it?”

A single nod was all Akira could muster, Sojiro letting out a grunt as Akira slowly turned towards the staircase and slowly descended it. The quaint atmosphere of the cafe eased his mind slightly more than usual, but it did not remain in Akira’s mind for long as he struggled with his blazer. Finally slipping his arms through the black blazer, vibrations rattled throughout Akira’s right leg as he began turning around.

“Ngh…” A grunt managed to get out of Akira’s mouth as he stumbled to a stop, a few steps away from the glass door as he snaked his hand towards his pocket. A slight frown crossed Akira’s face as he unlocked his phone, Sumire’s message at the bottom of his screen.

_Come outside, Senpai, or we’ll be late for school!_

Instead of replying, Akira resumed his limp forward, not bothering to return his phone to his pocket as his arm would barely sway with his body already. Approaching the glass door, Akira made out a figure on the other side, but it was far too blurry for him to make out who or what it actually was from shape alone. However, he let out a slight sigh and shook his head as the red he could make out along with the text he just received allowed him to make a solid guess at who was behind the door.

“There you are!” Despite the sharp stabs of pain racketing his mind, Akira felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards as he was met with the excited red eyes belonging to his only friend. “We have to get moving, Senpai!”

“W...Why are y… here?” Akira ignored the weakness in his voice as he stared down at Sumire, slightly thankful for the height difference so he could allow his head some rest. However, the only response he got was Sumire turning her back on him and beginning to move out towards the main street. Akira stood still as he watched the redhead walk a few paces before stopping just before she went out of his view and turned her head, flashing Akira a cheeky grin.

‘The hell’s up with her all of a sudden?’ Akira thought just as Sumire resumed her gait, a slight bounce to it as she left Akira’s vision entirely. ‘Dammit…’ Letting out a string of curses internally, Akira fought through the lethargy pushing his body down and increased his own pace. Every step felt like he was fighting through sludge, his body creaking and cracking with every movement he took, but he was able to get within a few paces behind Sumire as she was seemingly leading him towards his normal station, shooting a sly smile over her shoulder and slowing down before bouncing off her right foot back into her normal stride.

In fact, that was exactly where she was leading him as he soon found himself under the cover of the station, the rush of the train cars only muddying Akira’s mind even further as the world around him wavered for a few seconds. Even his focus on Sumire broke as the crowd in front of him continued to rush from either side, entering and leaving his vision constantly as his mind overloaded in the attempt of processing everything in front of him.

“S...Sumire…” Akira tried to call out , but he found even he could barely hear himself over the rustling of the crowd all around him. In the seconds that his vision wavered, Akira felt his throat constrict and his lips dry as came to a stop. The soothing sight of the familiar girl was nowhere to be seen within the sea of hostile faces, some shoving him as Akira froze. Darkness crept from the corners of his sight as his left arm shifted upwards, Akira instantly feeling the weight pulling it down as he tried to reach out for anyone, anything to help him.“S...Sumir–!”

“Senpai, I’m right here!” A wave of warmth washed over Akira as a familiarly soft hand wrapped around his shaking wrist, opening his throat back up the same instant as a rush of cool air made its way into his lungs. His vision gradually cleared as the reassuring hand gently led him towards the stopped train, the mist covering his vision clearing fully as Sumire sat Akira down right beside the train door. “I-I’m sorry, S-Senpai… I just wanted to surprise you, but instead I made you worry…”

“It’s… o… okay,” Akira said, his voice wispy as the train doors slid closed and the train began moving.

“T-Thank you, Senpai…” Sumire sniffled between her words, and Akira could see her brush the small droplets of tears forming within her eyes. “Oh, y-you were wondering why I was at the cafe you were at! Leblanc, correct?” Akira only nodded, even that gesture proving to be too much as a small sweat broke out on his forehead during the arduous process of pulling his head back up. “Well, you were struggling yesterday, so… I thought maybe you would need some h-help today. B-But I-I only m-made you w-worry, d-didn’t I? I-I’m a bad friend, aren’t I, S-Senp- Senpai!”

Akira couldn’t hold his head up any longer. In fact, he couldn’t keep his body up as he began falling forward, his face rocketing towards the person standing a few feet in front of him, just as a set of nimble hands caught him by the shoulders and gently pushed him back into his seat. “T...Thank y...you… A...And y...ou’re not.” 

“H-Huh?” Akira drew his eyes over towards Sumire to see her shocked stare directed back at him, her mouth wide open as Akira drew in a long breath.

“It’s probably a good thing you’re with me…” Akira forced himself through the sentence, quickly running out of breath as he was forced to draw in another deep breath. “You’re right; I’m not in the greatest shape right now, and…” Again, Akira ran out of air as his voice faltered, and he was sent into a coughing fit that racketed his upper chest as he turned his heavy head back forward.

“I… I understand, Senpai,” Sumire said, her voice more stable as Akira managed to catch his breath. As he looked back over at her, his body lurched to his left, pressing into Sumire’s surprisingly strong body as the train came to a stop. “U-Um… I think this is our s-stop, Senpai…”

Thankfully, Akira’s body righted itself as the train came to a full stop and, with Sumire’s help, was led off the train and onto the next line, somehow finding two more open seats on the train. Silence fell between the two as Akira leaned back in his seat, his eyes glazing over far easier than he expected as his foggy mind began wandering.

_“That power you demonstrated, while unbelievably remarkable for the point you are currently at in your rehabilitation process, still posed a grave threat to your body and mind. The damage caused to yourself is greater than what any foe could have achieved from within the Palace, and I fear that using that power for much longer would have caused irreversible damage onto your body and mind.”_

_As Igor paused, Akira saw the long nosed man nod towards Justine, who instantly turned towards him and presented her clipboard. From the very center of the object rose a familiar card, “The Faith”, letting off a small but crisp sky blue aura around it._

_“But, it appears you had luck on your side today, or perhaps… your bond with this person was deeper than I had anticipated. It is truly fascinating watching your give and take relationship grow and continue blooming, especially with it culminating into this power. The Faith Arcana possesses a mystical property, if you will, and this mysticism has taken form within this girl to act as a counterbalance to the destructive force this newfound power of yours gives.”_

_‘Sumire…’ Akira looked down at his shredded arms as he pulled back his sleeves slowly. ‘So… without her, I would have…’_

_Igor’s deep, threatening chuckle brought Akira from his thoughts as he made eye contact once again with the strange man. “However, it appears she was not the only one to grow from the bond you two share. To see a Persona, a powerful one at that, be born from the depths of a bond… I will continue to watch you with utmost curiosity, Prisoner, as you continue down this road towards rehabilitation…”_

“S-S-Senpai?!”

Akira’s eyes began to open slowly as the Velvet Room melted away once again, and he felt a slender shoulder underneath his head. The light pouring into his eyes forced them shut again, but thankfully it didn’t take very long to open them as Akira vision was nearly horizontal with the ground. He blinked slowly as his lazy eyes moved upwards, shapely legs and a black skirt filling his vision as his mind slogged its way into working properly.

“S-Senpai! W-W-What are y-you doing?!” Sumire’s yelp shot through Akira’s head, her voice right next to his ears as the realization finally dawned on Akira on where he was. With a small grunt and a slight amount of pain shooting through his upper back, Akira slid himself back into his spot and let out a small breath.

“Sorry,” Akira said, shaking his groggy head before stopping his gaze back on Sumire and allowing a small frown to crease his brow. Her face was nearly identical to her flowing red hair in color as her wide eyed stare was directed downwards towards her feet. Towards the bottom of his vision, Akira saw her hands begin to fiddle with each other before working out the wrinkles in her skirt. “What’s… up?”

“N-N-Nothing!” Sumire exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly as Akira could feel the gazes of the other passengers fall onto the two of them. However, he was far too engrossed and, frankly, confused with the flustered state Sumire was in at the moment to give much thought to the bystanders around them. Sumire was shifting in her seat uncontrollably, only adding to Akira’s confusion as her left hand passed over the shoulder his head had just been and lingering there for a few moments before going back to messing with her skirt.

However, before he could ask her again what was wrong, the train came to a stop, and Akira found himself being lifted somewhat forcefully out of his seat by Sumire and led through the bustling crowd exiting the train. A slight amount of pain pulsated from the compromised wrist, but Akira wasn’t allowed a moment of reprieve to tell Sumire as she practically dragged him through the crowd of rushing students towards Shujin.

‘Something’s up, she’s usually not this forceful,’ Akira thought, finally regaining some control over himself once again as he raised his head towards Sumire. His vision was slightly blurred, but he could still see the rosy color spread across her face. 

“Ugh…” With a grunt and several droplets of sweat falling off his face, Akira forced his sandbags for legs forward, managing to match Sumire’s pace as their school came into view. “Su… Su…”

‘Dammit, I can’t speak!’ Akira cursed internally, his legs burning as he forced his stride even further ahead. The fog in his mind, the weight put on his body; it was all pushing down on his body, but Akira forced through the dull but constant pain pulsing throughout his body as he approached Sumire’s side, feeling her grip loosen with every stride he took.

As he forced himself forward, Akira struggled to take a deep breath, nearing Shujin with every stride as Sumire continued to rush forward towards the school. While the air itself was refreshing, Akira could feel his lungs burning with strain as he was finally able to match Sumire’s gait. He could see her face being overtaken by red, the blush identical with her hair as Sumire’s lips were trembling slightly. However, Akira could only focus on the look in her eyes as they stared ahead, the deep panic within them causing a knot to form within his stomach.

“Su… Su...mire…”

They were already well down the street leading to Shujin, numerous students shooting them curious but frightened glances as Sumire continued her attempt to drag Akira towards the school. Growing closer and closer, Akira could see the panic in Sumire’s eyes not only persist but worsen as two droplets began forming within her red orbs.

“Sumire, what’s wrong?!” Akira was barely able to raise his voice above his soft croak as he tried pulling his arm out of Sumire’s surprisingly tight grasp, but it was to no avail as his wrist remained compromised. However, the sheer panic within Sumire’s eyes faded altogether in one instance and she came to an abrupt stop. The extreme blush still remained across her face, but Akira could finally relax his shoulders and gut as the forming tears within Sumire’s eyes disappeared.

“O-Oh… U-U-Um…” Sumire stumbled over her words as she looked up towards Shujin, and Akira could see the realization in her eyes as they widened. “I-I d-d-don’t k-know… S-Something j-just c-came over m-me...”

“Alright,” Akira replied as curtly as possible, the numerous gazes from the other students passing by them crawling across his skin. Any feeling of unease or worry for Sumire was superseded by the overwhelming desire to get out of the spotlight, but his wrist was still locked within Sumire’s grasp as she was looking at anywhere but him.

“U-Um… S-Senpai? A-Are you ang–”

“No,” Akira interrupted Sumire, the question she was going to ask already burned into his mind as he gently reclaimed his wrist from her ever loosening grasp. “We need to get … going...” Akira gritted his teeth as his voice faltered, taking a glance over to see Sumire nod slightly.

The panic that once filled her eyes was replaced by uncertainty, Akira noted, as he stopped climbing the stairs almost as soon as he started. Letting out a slight grunt, he fully turned towards the still redhead to see her lips still quivering slightly as she stared at the ground. He could still feel the other students’ gazes on him, some even stopping for a second before hurrying up the stairs, but Akira found that, while he still felt their uncomfortable weight all over himself, it was overshadowed for his own concern for Sumire as he gazed directly into her downcast eyes.

“Sumire.”

“H-Huh?” Sumire’s eyes immediately darted up to meet Akira’s, and there and then Akira could see that the uncertainty in her eyes was only superficial and let out a barely detectable sigh of relief; nothing too serious. 

‘But then, how did she get like this to begin with? No, that doesn’t matter now.’

“It’ll… be ok...ay. But we… need to get… inside now,” Akira managed to get out, the last of the students that were around them going through the front doors as he spoke. Any of the tension of being watched disappeared as his right hand began moving upwards, gravity its main opponent, before landing square on Sumire’s soft head.

“S-Senpai!?” Sumire yelped, sending another wave of dull pain throughout Akira’s mind, but kept his face steady as he stared down at the redhead. Akira’s grey eyes met Sumire’s eyes as they shot upwards, the red orbs widened with shock as Akira managed to form his mouth into a half smile.

“I’m not… sure what’s up… with you tod...ay, but it’s… okay, Sumi...re,” Akira said as he gently brushed his thumb across her hair in a way Akira hoped was reassuring, and he could see Sumire’s eyes light up slightly along with the red across her cheeks deepening, forcing the corner of his lips higher as he attempted a genuine smile. 

“W-Wha…?” Sumire breathed out as Akira managed a small smile, but he let his hand fall from the head of red hair as his arm began to shake. He forced back a small amount of confusion as, along with her flustered state, a small pout formed on Sumire’s face as her eyes followed Akira’s arm.

“We need… to get going now…” 

“O-Okay…”

With a small grunt, Akira turned back towards the entrance towards their school, the place that had previously filled his heart with dread every time he would enter, but Akira found a small spring in his step despite the state he was in as he climbed up the stairs. Sumire was behind him, flustered but otherwise okay, and Kamoshida should have changed. Perhaps… perhaps life could improve for him.

* * *

“Hey!”

As Akira was exiting his classroom he stopped, turning to the left to see Ryuji running up towards him.

“How’re you doin’, man?”

“Better,” Akira said, his voice still raspy as he barely was able to speak in one breath.

“Honestly it doesn’t look like you are, but if you say you are then you are, I guess. Anyways, have you se- Where’s Yoshizawa at? Isn’t she usually with you?” Ryuji interrupted himself, taking a moment to look around the area.

“She’s at gymnastics,” Akira replied, trying his damndest to keep them brief to give his lungs a bit of a reprieve.

“Daaamn, I didn’t know she did gymnastics! That’s pretty badass!” Ryuji exclaimed, forcing Akira to wince as a small shot of pain veered through his mind. “Oh shit, my bad!”

Akira waved off the blond as the two began moving towards the staircase, apparently simultaneously noticing that they were drawing the attention of those around them, and they made their way towards the relatively empty courtyard to find seats open near the vending machines.

“You were saying someth...ing,” Akira mentioned as Ryuji brought back two soft drinks from the machines, handing one to him and taking a seat opposite Akira at the circular table.

“Oh shit, yeah! Have you heard anything about Kamoshida?” Ryuji asked outright. “My class was only told we were havin’ a study hall instead of PE and didn’t explain any further. Some are sayin’ he took today off.”

“Kawakami didn’t sa...y much either.” Akira closed his eyes, slightly irritated with his own voice at its refusal to work properly.

“You sure you’re good, man? I was knocked out for most of the fight at the end there, but you were in a rough spot yesterday,” Ryuji commented before taking a sip of his drink.

“I should… be fine by… tomorrow,” Akira managed to get out, feeling the strain on his lungs as he stopped speaking.

“Man, you must be tough as shit then, ‘cause that looked like it hurt.” Akira saw Ryuji shake his head slightly after looking down at his leg for a moment and met the blond’s eyes as he looked back up. “So… Do ya think we did it?”

“Yeah,” was all Akira could say, taking in a deep breath after to relieve any remaining stress on his lungs.

“I wanna feel the same way, but I’m so god damn nervous, y’know? I don’t wanna screw over my mom any further, and me bein’ expelled would be too much for h–”

“We’ll be fine,” Akira interrupted Ryuji, his eyes sharpening as determination flooded into the grey orbs. 

“Heh… You’re right,” Ryuji chuckled as he leaned back in his seat. “I’m not really sure how to put this into words, but… you’re a good guy, Akira. I didn’t know why you weren’t trustin’ of me or Ann at the beginning, but I think I get why now. Considerin’ the way everyone talks about you, so I don’t blame the way you acted towards me or Ann.”

“Really?” Akira asked, genuinely surprised as he raised his eyebrows towards the blond.

“I mean, we all got rumors and shit bein’ said about us, but you and Yoshiz- wait, Sumire, right?” Akira nodded, allowing Ryuji to continue on. “You and Sumire have it the worst out of us four by far. I don’t think an hour passes where I don’t hear one of those dumbass rumors, so it must be pretty damn tiring for you two.”

“I’m used to it,” Akira responded, his eyes glazing over as he tried to force his mind away from those memories.

_“He’s really a criminal now?”_

_“Damn, I thought he was pretty cool though…”_

_“What did h… d…?”_

“Hey Akira, how exactly did you get your record? I ain’t gonna believe all those rumors about you, especially after what we went through together,” Ryuji asked, snapping Akira from the hellish memories, and he met eyes with the blond once again. “If you don’t want to say, you don’t have to.”

“I was framed… I didn’t d...o it, but… no one believed me,” Akira said, managing to take a sip of his drink as he kept his eyes trained on Ryuji.

“Seriously? That’s bullshit!” The blond shouted, slamming his free hand on the table as his eyes were filled with anger. “And everyone treats you like shit cause of that?”

Akira barely even noticed the pain in the back of his head as he stared dumbfounded at Ryuji; he hardly expected the blond to believe his brief explanation that left most of the story out, let alone be this pissed about it. However, he shook off the shocked expression written across his face as he set his soft drink back down on the table.

“Calm down,” Akira said, leaning back in his seat as he watched Ryuji’s face stay in the same state of outrage.

“Sorry, I just… Kinda understand what that feels like, I guess,” Ryuji said, his eyes trained on the table in front of him as he leaned on his arms. “I don’t have it as bad as you, but no one would believe me if I told ‘em the shitty things Kamoshida did not only to me but to everyone here,” Ryuji finished, pushing himself back as he swept up his bottle of soda and finished it in one gulp. 

“You’re fine,” Akira responded back, not quite believing the feeling sprouting within his chest. There… were more people like him, who understood what he went through and that actually believed him. The same initial doubt he first had with Sumire, the voice that told him to not trust her, was gone. He didn’t feel the same sort of connection with Ryuji as he did with Sumire; he doubted he would with anyone else in quite the same way, but a warmth spread throughout his chest nonetheless as he stared at the blond.

“Thanks, man. I appreciate talkin’ with ya, y’know? I guess… I guess we’re more similar than we first thought.”

“Yeah.” Akira nodded, the warmth within his chest spread out from his chest towards the rest of his body and time came to a stop for him.

_I am thou, thou art I…_

_This new vow to stand together_

_against the world is forged from thy shattered soul…_

_In breaking free of doubt, the chain that impedes_

_thee, is thy strength of heart made manifest._

_With the birth of the Chariot Persona,_

_thou hast obtained the wings of blessing_

_that hath strengthened thine heart even further._

“Hey, I was thinking about this back in the Palace, but I’ve been gettin’ kinda slow recently. When you’re better, you wanna do some training with me?” Ryuji asked. “You don’t gotta say yes right now, I’m gonna do it with or without ya. I just felt like I should ask you.”

“Let me think ab...out it,” Akira responded as he moved to get to his feet, letting out a grunt as he lifted himself up. “I got to g...o.”

“Shit, me too man! Thanks again for talkin’ with me!”

* * *

_“You seem to be in a better mood today, Sumire!”_

_“Yes, just like that Sumire!”_

_“Keep up the good work, Sumire!”_

_“Nice work today, Sumire. You can go home for today.”_

As her coach’s words continued bouncing around within her mind, Sumire smiled up at her ceiling as she laid on her bed. Ever since she had gotten out of practice she was in a good mood; she was doing well again. Her body was tired and sore, even more so than usual in addition to the small but persistent headache plaguing her mind from the Metaverse and the fight against Kamoshida’s Shadow, but even the events of that day were in the back of her mind as she continued smiling upwards.

_“Did something good happen with that boy, Sumire?”_

Suddenly, Sumire’s cheeks flushed as she opened her mouth to try and convince her coach that that wasn’t the case, but it was just in her mind, she realized, and her body relaxed slightly. However, her cheeks were still blazing hot as the mental image of her coach slowly began to melt away, being replaced by…

_“I’m happy I met you, Sumire.”_

Warmth began spreading quickly from Sumire’s chest throughout her body as she stared back at Akira, the first smile Sumire had seen from him on full display as her own smile widened. Sumire still couldn’t believe it had happened, but the memory had raced through her mind throughout that night and all throughout the school day that it was impossible to get it out of her head.

‘My stomach feels funny… And my heart is racing…’ Sumire’s mind trailed off, small droplets of happy tears beginning to form within her eyes.

_“You’re the only reason I can make it through each day.”_

The warm liquid from Sumire’s eyes began to drizzle slowly down her face as Akira’s words bounced within her head. 

_“So… Thank you, Sumire.”_

‘I… I should be the one thanking you, Senpai… I’m here because of you…’ Sumire thought as she brought her hands up to the top of her head, still feeling Akira’s strong and firm hand atop it from yesterday and earlier in the day. ‘No one has ever said that to me… Not even…’

She stopped, expecting her chest to tighten up as her mind landed on Kasumi, but her body stayed relaxed as it sank further into her bed. Instead, the phantom feeling of Akira’s hand remained on her head, the memory of his thumb gently brushing through her hair only intensifying her blush. Her heart was beating nearly out of her chest, chills running all across her arms as she let them fall back to her bed, but the interior of her body was still warm. 

“What’s happening to me? My body is shaking and my heart feels like it could explode, but I feel so… safe when I think of Senpai. I… I don’t understand…” Sumire whispered to herself, her confusion dwarfed by the simple happiness within her heart. 

“Sumire, it’s time for dinner!”

Sumire shot up to a sitting position, immediately losing her train of thought as she heard her father’s footsteps coming up the stairs towards her room. It was that moment that a loud rumble came from Sumire’s gut as well as a dull pain from the same region and, after a futile attempt to shake off the red glow coming from her cheeks, Sumire climbed off her bed and approached her door.

“D-Dad!” Sumire yelped, not expecting her father to be standing right in front of her door.

“Are you okay, Sumire? I heard you muttering something to yourself, and…” Sumire’s father, Shinichi Yoshizawa, trailed off as Sumire saw a small frown crease his face, and at that moment she realized that she probably looked like a mess.

“I-I’m okay, Dad,” Sumire tried to reassure her father, and luckily it seemed to work as he slowly nodded before beginning to turn towards the staircase. 

Sumire lived in relative comfort with her father working as a Director for Good Morning Japan, allowing the family of four to live in a spacious two storied house within the Shoto residential district on the southwestern part of Shibuya. There were three bedrooms and a bathroom occupying the second floor of their house with Sumire’s and Kasumi’s being right next to each other while the bottom floor contained the essential rooms: Kitchen, Living Room, and a Dining Room with a chabudai surrounded by cushions in the middle of the room.

“Alright, if you say so…” As he climbed down the stairs, Sumire could see the worry deep in her father’s face, but she couldn’t do much else but follow after him. 

_Y...r a ...ad dau...ter…_

_Th...y w...ted Ka...i, not y..._

Sumire winced as she reached the bottom of the stairs, but the voice inside her head was quiet compared to how it usually was. Still, a small seed of guilt began growing within her as she quietly followed her father into the Dining Room and quickly kneeled down at the short table. The smell of heavily seasoned beef and an assortment of vegetables filled her nostrils immediately as Sumire laid her eyes on a large bowl of Yaki Udon in the center of the table with smaller bowls directly in front of Sumire and two other spots around the table.

“Sumire, dear, how are you doing?” A soft, feminine voice came from the kitchen as Sumire fully situated herself, her father doing the same to her right, and her eyes were pulled towards the entrance to their Kitchen as a slender woman stepped through the doorway and into the Dining Room. She was wearing a simple white blouse with a long, colorful skirt, her usually flowing crimson hair tied into a ponytail behind her. 

“I’m alright, mom,” Sumire answered, meeting her mother’s, Akane Yoshizawa, red eyes behind round glasses nearly identical to her own. Silence fell between the three as Akane kneeled down to Sumire’s right, her warm smile directed at Sumire as she tried to match it, but her mind was somewhere else entirely as Akira’s own smiling face reappeared within her mind.

“Thank you for the meal!”Before her blush could reignite, Sumire quickly bowed before she grabbed her bowl and filled it to the brim with noodles, the assortment of vegetables, and pork before picking up the set of chopsticks to her right and began eating her way through the filled up bowl. She could both feel and see both of her parents staring at her as she ate, but thankfully they didn’t mention her erratic behavior as Sumire tore through her first bowl before her parents got through half of theirs.

“How was your day at work, honey?” Akane asked, and Sumire felt herself ease up instantly as the attention was taken away from her and onto her father who set his chopsticks beside his bowl and wiped his mouth with the napkin in front of him.

“It was good. Fairly slow day news wise despite what has been going on recently, but we managed to fill all the time out today thankfully,” Shinichi responded, letting out a small sigh as Sumire tentatively set her chopsticks down besides her bowl. However, her father clearly noticed as he turned his head towards her and tilted it to the side slightly. “All done eating, Sumi?”

“Y-Yeah…” Sumire nodded, although her stomach had other plans for them as a loud rumble emanated from her gut. A small chuckle came from both her parents as Shinichi leaned across the table and filled her bowl more with the noodle based dish.

“It’s alright, you just came back from practice an hour ago so you must be hungry,” Shinichi said softly, Sumire’s eyes locking with his kind eyes as he leaned back onto his knees. Giving a small nod, Sumire picked her chopsticks back up and dug back into the pile of meat, vegetables, and noodles in front of her, her parent’s conversation serving as background noise as her mind began to wander while she ate.

_“But… why?”_

_Sumire was staring down at Akira, a small trickle of tears running down his face as his wavering grey eyes were directed up towards her. She felt exhausted and in pain from the battle with Kamoshida’s Shadow, but her mind was calm as she smiled down at her only friend within her arms._

_“You… You already said it, Senpai. It’s what friends do for each other, right?”_

_A friend… a true one that was there for her and no one else._

_“I’m not… sure what’s up… with you tod...ay, but it’s… okay, Sumi...re.”_

‘Senpai is a lot better to me than I deserve…’ Sumire thought to herself, a similar warmth to earlier spreading in her chest once again. ‘He somehow always finds a way to make me feel better…’Unbeknownst to her, a smile had spread across her face as she stared blankly off into space along with the blush that she thought she had shaken off.

“What is my Sumi smiling about?”

“Oh? Is that a blush I see?”

Sumire blinked rapidly as she was pulled from her daze to see both her parents staring at her, amused looks on their faces as their mouths were shaped into small grins. It was then that she finally realized the heat on her cheeks and the smile across her face, and she shook her head violently in a failed attempt to rid herself of them both.

“How was your day today, Sumire?” Her father asked seemingly out of nowhere, but Sumire could still see the grin on both her parents’ faces as she tried and failed to calm herself down.

“I-It was good…” Sumire responded, tucking her chin into her chest as she desperately wanted to block her face with her hands.

“You seem to be in a good mood, sweetheart,” Akane genuinely commented, her grin turning into a smile that set Sumire slightly back at ease as she turned her attention towards her mother.

“M-Mhm…” Sumire nodded slightly, unable to wipe the smile off her face as she felt Akira’s phantom hand on her head again, pressing down softly as she saw his smile in her mind’s eye. “I-I made a-a friend r-recently… T-Two w-weeks a-ago...”

“That’s great, Sumire! What’s her name?” Sumire’s father excitedly asked, his own grin turning into a wide smile.

“H-His name is Akira Kurusu…” 

Sumire watched as both her parents’ eyebrows raised, a slight amount of shock crossing their faces as they continued staring at Sumire.

“H-He’s a really sweet person… A-And he’s helped me a lot ever since we met…”

“Well, I really want to meet this Akira now if my daughter speaks so highly of him!” Akane exclaimed immediately, drawing Sumire’s eyes up towards her. It had been far too long since she had seen either of her parents this happy, let alone her mother ever since Kasumi’s accident, and her infectious smile spread to Sumire as her own widened across her face.

“I-I think you two would really like him. He’s kind and caring, but gets treated poorly at school…” 

Sumire’s voice faltered slightly; she hadn’t told her parents about her being bullied yet, and she wanted to keep it that way as she suddenly returned to her half eaten bowl in front of her.

“Well, you just let him know that your parents would love to meet him, okay Sumi?” Sumire’s father gently asked, his smile somehow growing as he reached over and ruffled Sumire’s hair. “Any friend of my girls is welcome here.”

“O-Okay!” Sumire nodded enthusiastically before turning her head towards her mother, who was chuckling quietly to herself. “Mom?”

“My Sumi is friends with a boy…” Was all Akane said, but Sumire’s face lit up even further in embarrassment as Akane looked up and winked not so subtly at her. “Make sure you treat him well, okay dear?”

“W-Wha…?”

“Now, now, Akane, don’t tease her too much,” Shinichi interrupted, though his smile had morphed back into a grin as he stared at his wife.

“C’mon, Shini! Aren’t you excited to meet this Akira?” Akane fired back, and Sumire slinked backwards as she saw a devious look appear within her mother’s red orbs.

“Of course, but all I’m saying is don’t overdo it,” Shinichi responded, shaking his head while letting out a small chuckle before Sumire saw him turn back towards her. “Oh, I was going to ask you earlier, Sumire, but your mother and I wanted to see if you wanted to come with us to see Kasumi sometime during Golden Week.”

A moment of awkward silence fell over the table as Sumire’s father stared hesitantly at her, his anxiousness palpable to Sumire, but Sumire found her body still loose as her smile persisted on her face. “O-Okay… W-What day are w-we going?”

Both her parents’ faces lit up again as Sumire smiled at both of them, and she could see tears pricking their eyes as her father reached down into his pocket for his phone.

“We were thinking of the fourth of May, a Wednesday. We already checked your schedule and you have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off, so just tell us what day what’s best for you, alright Sumi?”

Sumire nodded, feeling herself choke up somewhat as she moved her eyes down to her empty bowl. She hadn’t seen Kasumi ever since the accident, but she finally felt like she was ready. 

_“That means that she’s still alive, and you can make up with her and move forward.”_

A small gasp escaped Sumire’s mouth as Akira’s words echoed within her mind. It seemed like ages ago that he had first listened to her on the rooftop, but it was just under two weeks ago. However, that wasn’t what she was focused on.

‘He… He cared even back then,’ Sumire finally realized, closing her mouth as her smile spread across her face once again. ‘Even when he was hurting so much, alone, he still cared. And… And he’s right. Kasumi is still alive.’

“Sumire, are you thinking about Akira?”

Her head shooting towards Akane, Sumire found herself shocked as she stared at the warm smile from her mother.

“W-Wha… How did you…”

“You can go upstairs, sweetie. I’m sure you had a long day and want to relax for the night, so let your father and I take care of everything down here,” Akane said as she dodged the question, her soothing voice growing closer as she slowly stood up and moved towards Sumire. Sumire felt her mom’s lips briefly press into her forehead as she leaned down before straightening back up. “Go say hi to Akira for us, alright?”

“O-Okay,” Sumire replied, her flustered state worsening as she heard a small chuckle escape from her mother.

“Akane…”

“I know, I know, I’ll stop… For now. Have a goodnight, sweetie.”

“Sleep well, Sumi.”

Her legs shaking somewhat, Sumire got to her feet and, giving her mom and dad a kiss, began moving up the stairs and towards her room before stopping. She could hear her parents having a conversation in the Dining Room and couldn’t stop herself from listening in.

“I’m so happy that she made a friend, Shinichi,” Sumire heard her mother say in a relieved manner.

“She really does seem a lot happier,” Sumire’s father responded, his voice filled with the same relief as her mother’s. “I should ask Hiraguchi how she’s doing in practice as well…”

“Do you think this Akira could come over during Golden Week? Maybe on Tuesday?”

Sumire’s father’s laughter echoed around the house as Sumire found her heart began beating faster. “You really want to meet him, huh?”

“Of course I do! The smile on our Sumi’s face when she was talking about him makes me think that they’re already really close, and this is her first boy friend she’s had in a while! The last I can think of was in Elementary school!”

“You may not want to call him her boyfriend around Sumire, especially with the way she was blush…”

Sumire stared blankly at the stairs in front of her, her parent’s voices growing softer as they moved into the kitchen. Her legs worked on their own as her mind wouldn’t function, and she pulled out her phone as she landed on her bed after quickly opening and closing her bedroom door. It was then that her face erupted yet again into a bright red, and her mind began spinning as she pulled her legs onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling.

She couldn’t even begin to process what her parents were saying; boyfriend? ‘No, mom only meant it as Akira is my friend who is a boy. That has to be what she meant… right?’ Sumire thought, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest as she tried to take deep breaths to calm herself down, but it was fruitless as her arms were shaking.

_Hey Senpai, I told my parents about you just now and they really want to meet you. Would you be willing to meet them on Tuesday?_

“Crap! What am I doing?!” Sumire nearly shouted, remembering just in time that her parents were still downstairs as she sprung up into a sitting position and staring down at the text she just sent to Akira. ‘Should I delete it? Has he seen it yet? I doubt he would want to…’

_I don’t have anything else going on, so why not._

_Wait…_

_Really?!_

_If they’re your parents, they can’t be that bad._

_Although, do they know about my record?_

Sumire stared at her phone, a mixture of shock and worry on her face. She hadn’t even seriously thought about the fact that he had a record ever since she went into the Metaverse for the first time, let alone tell her parents about it.

_Sumire?_

_Sorry, Senpai! I haven’t told them about it and honestly wasn’t even considering it. Are… Are you going to feel comfortable with them not knowing?_

Sumire sat in silence waiting for Akira’s response, feeling her gut twist slightly as she only saw “...” at the bottom of the screen

_It’s fine._

_Are you sure, Senpai?_

_How was practice today?_

Letting out a sigh, Sumire closed her eyes for a brief moment. ‘I hope I’m not making him too nervous about this… But he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore right now.’

_It went really well, actually! How are you feeling though, Senpai?_

_Better than expected. Still feel sluggish and it’s still hard to talk, but by going off last time this happened I should be better tomorrow._

_Hey Senpai?_

_Yeah?_

_Can we talk more about what happened?_

_What else is there to talk about?_

Sumire’s hand shook slightly, but her eyes sharpened with determination as she stared at her phone.

_I want to know more about you, Senpai. I won’t share anything you say with anyone else, I promise. Please tell me why that happened yesterday._

Sumire held her breath. She wanted; no, needed, to know why it happened and what exactly Akira was going through. If she, perhaps she could prevent it from happening again.

_I… I don’t know for certain, but…_

_But I couldn’t control myself, at least the first time it happened._

_It was like my body was moving on it’s own, but yesterday…_

_I felt like I was in control._

_I felt… angry at… well, everything. It was like it was burning me from the inside out, but I couldn’t hold back anymore._

_I would have killed Kamoshida, and I would have been killed if I kept going._

“Senpai…” Sumire whispered, tears forming in her eyes as she stared at the line of Akira’s texts.

_But that all faded when you called out to me. You saved me, Sumire._

_I can’t say this enough, but thank you._

_I’m not sure why you would do that for someone like me still, but you still did it._

Sumire’s face quickly turned into a frown as she looked down at Akira’s latest message. ‘Why does he say things like that? Doesn’t he realize how much he’s helped me?’

_Please stop saying that, Senpai._

_What?_

Shaking her head, Sumire let out a small sigh.

_We’re friends, Senpai. Of course I would help you, just like you would help me._

_You think so?_

_Of course, Senpai._

Sumire closed her eyes as she waited for Akira’s response. Akira simply didn’t understand the effect he has on Sumire’s life, that’s all, so all she needs to do is show him how much he’s helped her.

_If you say so. Either way, I just wanted to thank you again._

_Anytime, Senpai._

The frown on Sumire’s face disappeared to make room for her smile again; they would have to work on that some more, but it still made Sumire’s heart beat slightly faster every time he thanked her. She didn’t feel like she had done much, not even matching what Akira had done for her, but… it still made her feel good to hear him say it.

_The cat’s yelling at me to sleep now. Not sure when or how he got this bossy, but I can’t take much more of his nagging._

_Goodnight, Senpai!_

_Night, Sumire._

As Sumire turned her phone off, the smile on her face persisted as she even let out a small giggle, the image of Morgana meowing incessantly at Akira staying in her mind as she let out a small yawn. Her eyes began slowly closing and she let out another longer yawn, drawing back her blankets and resting her head on her pillow. With Akira’s smile at the forefront of her mind and the prospect of him meeting her parents within a week and a half in the back, Sumire felt herself drift into a truly peaceful slumber, nothing to truly worry about, for the first time in a very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, funny story: This chapter was meant to be shorter, as a sort of cooldown chapter in terms of length compared to the last, but... it seems like I'm really, really bad at that sort of stuff. Also, this is the first chapter I'm releasing with my new pc and the last one before I head back to college. I'm honestly not sure how my upload schedule will shift when I get on campus, but I plan to continue writing while on campus. My schedule is actually very doable, with my classes being entirely in the evening, and the change of scenery will help me immensely(I hope).  
> I'll stay safe as long as you all continue doing so as well, and I hope you enjoyed a more lighthearted chapter with the introduction to Sumire's parents! They were a joy to write, and I hope you all enjoyed them so far as well! Until next time, stay safe out there and love you all!


	17. Fall of Lust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, Dev back with Reforming the Shattered. I would like to say that my first fic, The Wish for Control, has been revised recently(mainly chapter 9 and 10) and I would really appreciate everyone who has read it if you would reread those sections(and anyone who hasn't read it yet). I will be attempting to do the same with the sequel to that fic, Your Purpose, with the hope that I will get a new chapter out for that soon-ish. I will keep you all updated on my upload strategy(but let's be honest, it's me; I don't do those well).

“Sumire, I can move by myself just fine now. You realize you don’t have to keep doing this anymore, right? Especially when we don’t have school.”

“I want to do this for you, Senpai! And besides, it’s not that far out of the way for me!”

Leaning back in his seat, Akira let out a small sigh. There wasn’t a world where Sumire was going to let up; he knew that by now, so he just let the matter go and allowed his eyes some rest. Sundays were the only time he could truly relax with no school to attend, and for the third time in a row Akira found himself hanging out with Sumire on their day off from school.

A week had passed in a blur, Akira’s body healing slowly but surely as he gradually regained control over himself. While still not fully recovered, his body still creaking and weak, he was able to move and talk freely, a relief to the teen as the train began to slow to a stop at the Shibuya Station.

“Do you need help, Senpai?” Sumire asked, jumping to her feet as Akira pushed himself up.

“No, I’m good,” Akira replied, taking in a small breath as he turned towards the exit to the train to his right, the other bystanders waiting impatiently in front of it. Noticing all of them stealing glances towards their phones, watches, or anything else nearby, Akira lightly scoffed as he simply walked over in front of the door and waited, Sumire walking right beside him. “You wanted to go get something to eat, yeah?”

“Mhm! And my parents said it was okay, so let’s go to that diner again!” Sumire bounced slightly ahead of Akira as they walked off the train, his hands in his pockets as he followed after Sumire.

“You’re in a good mood,” Akira noted plainly as he pushed himself up the stairs, the one part of the trip that he despised more than any other and, with a final grunt and sweat beginning to form on his forehead, set his foot down at the top of the stairs leading into the Central Square. Light clouds covered the afternoon sky, the crowd bustling around on the ground slightly smaller than Akira was used to as he was easily able to keep track of Sumire lightly bounding ahead of him.

“I like hanging out with you, Senpai! Of course I would be in a good mood!” Sumire exclaimed, turning around as the two approached the diner. Akira couldn’t help himself as he raised an eyebrow at the redhead; her mood swings were usually large, but this seemed entirely different. However, as he tried to quickly wipe the small but noticeable amount of shock off his face, he saw Sumire’s cheeks get dusted by a slight pink and her eyes suddenly became timid as she stopped directly in front of the diner.

“D-Did I say something weird, Senpai?” Sumire stuttered, her hands suddenly attempting to play with her black leggings to no avail. Akira stared down at the girl, his mind mixed with confusion and surprise, but eventually shook his head as he took a step towards Sumire.

“No, you didn’t. Let’s go inside.” His hand landing on Sumire’s head for a brief moment, Akira walked by her and up the stairs towards the cafe with the corners of his mouth tugging upwards. For a brief moment, as Akira held open the door to the cafe, he didn’t hear any footsteps behind him, but suddenly found Sumire right at his side again as he entered into the now familiar cafe. 

The two were seated nearly immediately, Akira facing towards the door with Sumire opposite him, and he fought back the small frown threatening to run across his face at the sight of the girl. Her previously light pink cheeks were now a much deeper shade of red with her ruby orbs darting all around the cafe. However, before he could ask what was wrong, the waiter approached the two, gaining Akira’s attention as he continued to lean back in the booth.

“Stack of pancakes,” Akira said, staring blankly at the waiter who simply nodded before turning towards Sumire.

“I-I’ll have the same! And a Frui-tea, and also an omelette!” Sumire exclaimed, leading Akira to raise his eyebrows again at the girl as the waiter nodded once again before walking off.

“Are you sure you can eat all of that?” Akira asked, Sumire’s eyes darting past his as they were directed towards the table.

“Y-Yeah… I’ll be able to burn it off at practice today,” Sumire replied, her voice shaking as her shoulders were tense and slightly shaking.

“Sumire, what’s up?”

“Huh?!” Sumire’s hand immediately flew over her mouth as Akira felt the entirety of the diner pause and look towards them, but he kept his eyes on the redhead. Slowly, everything resumed around them, and Sumire let her hand fall back to her lap. “W-What are you asking, Senpai?”

“Calm down, take a deep breath, and relax your shoulders,” Akira instructed, and in an almost mechanical manner Sumire did just that, her wide eyes settling ever so slightly as Akira watched her sink into the booth she was sitting on.

“S-Sorry, Senpai… I don’t know what came over me…” Sumire muttered, her voice barely reaching Akira, but he figured it best not to push any further.

“It’s alright. You mentioned you have practice today, yeah?” Akira asked, taking a sip of his water right after as he saw Sumire’s eyes slowly climb back to his own.

“Y-Yeah, but it isn’t starting for a while, so we have time.” A small smile began reappearing on Sumire’s face as her body relaxed more and more, and Akira noticed that the shaking in her body was all but gone as she reached for her own glass of water. “H-How are you today, Senpai?”

“Good, everything is healing fine,” Akira said, placing his left hand on his right; he could still feel the deep puncture wounds, but they were recovering slowly with each day. “You?”

“I’m good. My parents are really excited to meet you, Senpai!” Sumire exclaimed, the light excitement returning to her eyes as she straightened herself in her seat. “O-Oh… I’m sorry that I didn’t tell them about your record, Senpai…”

“It’s for the best that they don’t know,” Akira replied instantly, watching intently as Sumire’s head tilted to the side. “I would imagine they wouldn’t feel comfortable with their daughter being friends with a criminal.”

“But you aren’t a criminal, Senpai!” 

Akira’s eyes widened as Sumire jumped to her feet, placing her hands on the table as she leaned towards him. He could feel the entire diner stop again, but this time Sumire didn’t back away in sudden realization. Her gaze was directed solely at Akira, who could only stare back in mild shock. Then, letting out a small sigh, a slight chuckle escaped his lips, and Sumire’s eyes finally flashed with realization at what she was doing and quickly dove back into her seat.

“You and Ryuji are the only ones who believe me, though,” Akira shook his head as he muttered, his eyes falling to the table as they began to glaze over. “I don’t see a reason for them to believe that.”

“My parents will believe you, Akira-senpai!”

“How can I be certain of that, though?” Akira’s eyes met Sumire’s once again, a determined look within them as another sigh escaped his lips. 

“Because… Because they’re my parents, Senpai! They’ll have to believe you, because I believe you!” Sumire exclaimed, her upper body flying forward as she leaned on her forearms. Akira was face to face with the redhead, around a foot and a half between them as he kept his gaze steady.

“You’re a special case, Sumire. Not everyone is like you, and even if they say they believe me how can I know for sure they aren’t lying?”

“How do you know I’m not lying?!” Sumire pressed forward, her glasses approaching Akira’s as he blinked slowly at her.

“You showed me that you believed me, Sumire. More than once you could have turned your back, but you didn’t. And… even though there’s some doubt left about Ryuji in my mind, there’s none about you. I can’t explain it, but I guess that’s the way it is,” Akira finished with a final sigh, closing his eyes as he slumped back into the booth.

“Senpai…” Sumire breathed out, her voice barely reaching Akira, and he reopened his eyes to see Sumire back in her seat, her previously fiery eyes now widened with shock. 

“What?” Akira asked, but received a smile from the redhead as the surprise in her eyes vanished.

“Nothing, I just… really appreciate the time we have together,” Sumire replied and, before Akira could respond, the waiter reappeared at the front of the table with their food. After a quick “Thank you for the food” from Sumire, the two began eating, Akira taking long glances upwards towards Sumire as she demolished the food set before her.

‘I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this. It’s so strange seeing someone with her stature eat so much,’ Akira thought, taking a small bite of his pancakes as Sumire was nearing the end of her stack and moving onto her fairly large omelette.

“S-Senpai!?”

“Yeah?” Akira responded, moving his eyes slightly upwards to see yet another blush flashing across Sumire’s face.

“Y-You’re staring…” Sumire said, a slight pout forming as she set down her knife and fork.

“Sorry,” was all Akira said, returning to his own food as he took a sip of his water. The rest of the meal was entirely silent between the two, a sort of comforting silence as the bustle of the cafe around Akira kept his mind busy as he continued taking small bites of the somewhat hard pancakes. The food wasn’t bad necessarily, but Akira found himself slowing his pace down with every bite, losing his appetite for the low to medium quality pancakes.

“Senpai, are you okay? You’re barely eating!” Sumire exclaimed suddenly, and Akira could see her plates wiped completely clean and her glass containing her Frui-Tea empty.

“This place doesn’t serve amazing food, but it’s fine. Guess I’m not that hungry,” Akira replied, setting down his fork on his plate of half-eaten pancakes. He was lying, of course, barely able to hold back his stomach from rumbling as he took another sip of his water. He just wasn’t in the mood to eat.

“I-I can cook!” Sumire blurted out, and Akira titled his head to the side as he waited for her to continue. “I-I mean… I-If you want, I can cook something next time w-we g-g-go o-out like this…”

“Sounds good to me.” Nodding his head, Akira finished off the rest of his water and leaned back fully into the back of the seat. “I didn’t know you cooked.”

“Oh! Sorry for not telling you…”

“Don’t apologize. How did you come about learning?” Akira continued on with his questioning as he saw Sumire’s mouth opening in shock once again. He waited patiently, staring at Sumire’s face as she opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. “Breathe, Sumire.”

Doing just as Akira said, Sumire’s face calmed down. “S-Sorry, Senpai. I learned how to cook because K-Kasumi and I are in Gymnastics…” Sumire said timidly, her body jittering as Akira watched her face fall back to the table.

“It’s good that you’re able to cook, Sumire. What about Kasumi?”

To Akira’s surprise, a small giggle came from the redhead as her head shot back up, a small smile on her face as her mood seemed to brighten drastically.

“She doesn’t like cooking in the slightest, so she would always come to me after practice to make us something,” Sumire finished, a faint light within her eyes as she stared back at Akira. He wasn’t showing it, but he was shocked. Just two weeks ago she could barely speak her sister’s name, but now she was talking freely about her and even laughing. His internal shock passed as the smile on Sumire’s face spread to his own, a very small one that barely tugged the corners of his mouth upwards.

“So you’re the cook between you two? Good for you.”

“Thank you, Senpai! Do you cook at all?”

Akira shook his head slightly, his miniscule smile disappearing as he stared back at Sumire. “Not much, but I did learn a little before I moved here. Nothing too complicated, only really able to cook simple meals that would get me by.”

“W-Well! M-Maybe I can help you, then! Only if you want to, Senpai!”

‘Sumire is impossible to keep up with…’ The thought ran through Akira’s head as, along with the excitement present, embarrassment crept back into her eyes, but he pushed the thought away as he nodded.

“I’m not doing much else, so why not. I don’t know where we would do that, though.”

“We can go to m-my house! I’m sure my parents would be okay with it!” Sumire exclaimed, drawing the cafe’s attention for the third time that night. Nodding his head, Akira could hear some angry whispers around the cafe, but none actually registered within his mind as he was engrossed with the excited yet flustered face of Sumire staring back at him.

“If you’re sure about this, I won’t turn it down. Let me know when you want to meet up, and I’ll be there,” Akira said, feeling a vibration coming from his right leg but choosing to ignore it.

“Let’s start when you come over during Golden Week!” Sumire happily bounced slightly within her seat, almost puppylike in Akira’s eyes, and it was impossible to not let the small smile creep upwards on his face from her infectious energy. However, Akira watched as the excitement drained from Sumire’s face, being replaced with worry as it scrunched into a frown. “Senpai, isn’t tomorrow…”

“Yeah,” Akira replied, nodding his head. “We did all we could, Sumire. It’ll work out.”

“But what if–”

“We can’t focus on those questions, Sumire. We won and stole his treasure, and he hasn’t been at school the past week. There’s not a doubt in my mind that we succeeded.” Akira forced as much confidence into his voice as he could, leaning forward onto the table as he saw Sumire’s lips beginning to tremble. “We’re both going to be okay, Sumire.”

“D… y...u pro...se?” Sumire murmured, her voice so light that it barely even reached Akira’s ears.

“Hm?” Akira genuinely asked, leaning forward slightly more to see Sumire’s light blush reappear as she timidly looked upwards, her eyes wavering as Akira blinked slowly.

“Do you promise, Senpai?” 

Akira was at a loss for words; he didn’t expect that sort of question. His mind raced as he stared into Sumire’s red eyes pleading him to say yes. He could feel her desperation, her fear; the air was thick between the two with it. Truthfully he couldn’t be one hundred percent certain that everything had worked out, this being his first ever example of doing anything like this. But, something in the back of his mind ate away at the remaining doubt, the seeds of fear that they had somehow failed being burned up as Akira’s eyes sharpened with an edge of certainty around them.

“I promise, Sumire. It’s going to be alright,” Akira replied confidently, his resolve set as he unblinkingly stared at Sumire. A brief moment of silence passed over the two, their eyes staying connected as Sumire’s mouth began opening before closing again. The trembles of what Akira assumed to be fright and worry began to disappear as her eyes steadied, and Sumire’s face began to break out into a smile as she took a deep breath.

“Senpai… T-Thank you,” Sumire said, her face glowing as she smiled sweetly at Akira. “I-I feel b-better now… Oh! I need to get going to practice!” Watching Sumire jump out of her seat, her phone suddenly in her hand, Akira nodded as he pulled out his phone, feeling another vibration go throughout.

“I’ll see you later then, Sumire,” Akira replied.

“See you tomorrow, Senpai! And thank you again!” With a final wave, Sumire turned around and left Akira’s sight as she exited the cafe, leaving the teen all by himself. He looked downwards at his phone and slowly unlocked it upon seeing he had received a message from Ryuji.

_Hey dude, you seein this message?_

_Yeah_

_Okay cool, Ann just asked if you could meet her somewhere cause she doesn’t have your info. You free?_

_Yeah_

_Are you only gonna respond with “Yeah”, man…_

_I’m at the diner, where does she want to meet?_

_She says in the underground mall._

_Ah shit, my mom’s callin me. I’ll catch ya later!_

Shaking his head slightly, Akira slipped his phone back into his pocket, pushed himself up from the booth, and headed out from the diner. The walk towards the Underground Mall wasn’t too, luckily, but the numerous bystanders around Akira began to irritate him. ‘Let’s just get this done…’ Akira thought, gritting his teeth as his eyes landed on a head of familiar blonde hair within the crowd.

“Akira-kun!” Ann shouted over the bustling of the crowd, wavering her hand even though Akira could already see her and was walking towards her.

“Drop the formalities, Ann. What do you want?” Akira asked slightly aggressively, the back of his head lightly pounding. 

“Are you okay? You’re sweating…” Ann asked, her eyes filled with concern, but Akira closed his eyes and jammed his hands into his jean pockets.

“Yeah, is that all?” Akira’s mood worsened every moment he stood within the bustling crowd, dull pain flowing through his still tired mind from using that strange power.

“No! I… I just wanted to thank you, is all.” 

Reopening his eyes, Akira saw Ann looking down at the ground, a somewhat downcast look across her face as her hands were closed into fists. As he saw Ann open her mouth to continue, Akira let out a slight sigh and turned on his heels.

“Follow me, I can’t stand the noise down here,” was all Akira said before beginning to move through the crowd once again, the small steps behind him signalling Ann was following. ‘Thank me? I didn’t do anything, at least not for her. Whatever,’ Akira shook his head free of his thoughts as he fought his way up the last half of the stairs, his still fragile body shaking slightly from the slight overexertion, and he led Ann towards the round stone enclosement with vegetation and a tall tree overlooking part of the Square.

“Akira-k… Akira,” Ann began immediately as the two sat down, a slight amount of relief flowing through Akira’s body as his legs were allowed to rest for the moment.

“You said you wanted to thank me. I didn’t do anything,” Akira filled the empty space between Ann’s pause, keeping his eyes on the seemingly mindless crowd walking past him and the blonde.

“But you did! You defeated Kamoshida for me and avenged Shiho!” Ann exclaimed, and Akira slowly closed his eyes. “If… if you didn’t help, I don’t think we would have been able to beat him…”

“Bullshit.”

“Huh?!”

Akira looked over at Ann, his eyes unblinking as he stared directly into her eyes. “You four would have won without me.”

“B-But you beat him singlehandedly while we were all hurt!”

“Do you even see the state I’m in?” Akira asked, shaking his head as he pulled back his sleeves to reveal slightly bloody bandages to the blonde. A slight gasp escaped her lips, and Akira let out another sigh; obviously not. “You four would have been able to heal each other and beat him yourselves; I just happened to get in the way.”

“Even if that’s the case, I still have to thank you!” To Akira’s slight surprise, Ann continued pressing on as he rolled down his sleeves. “You still helped me avenge Shiho, helped bring that bastard to justice!”

“Who says that was my intention? I was saving myself, and our goals just happened to ali–”

“Bullshit!” Akira’s eyes shot back towards Ann just as he began to stand up, the blonde getting his full attention as a wave of pain was ignored in the back of his mind. “You told me you saw what happened to Shiho, and I could see the look in your eyes ever since you picked up that last Will Seed.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Akira grumbled, gritting his teeth as he glared at the blonde. The very real pain in his head continued growing as well as the desire to get away from the conversation, to go back to Leblanc.

“You didn’t know anything about Shiho, and I know how you act around other people, but I could see that you were angry. I… I can’t really explain it past that, but it’s clear to me that you’re not the person people at school say you are.”

“Do you really expect me to believe that?” Akira scoffed, his forearms falling onto his thighs as he stared straight forward. “That’s a weak reason to believe that, Ann.”

“You seem lonely, Akira. Like you don’t have anywhere to belong.” Akira winced internally, thankfully keeping his eyes steady as Ann continued on. “People whisper behind my back, saying that I’m with Kamoshida, but the rumors go deeper than that. They assume that I’m some sort of slut, a bitch who thinks that I’m better than everyone else, but they don’t even know me. We’re… we’re the same in that regard. I only had Shiho as a true friend while everyone else avoided me, and you only seem to open up around Sumire-san. But… But I can see that you’re a good person, Akira.”

Silence passed between the two as Akira stared straight forward, his eyes unwavering as the crowd all around him began thinning with the sun just beginning to set. However, as calm as his outward appearance was, Akira’s mind was racing. ‘Why the hell are they all saying that? She knows about my record, obviously, and I’ve been an ass ever since coming here. So why… Why do they all treat me differently?’

“Well, that’s all I had to say, and I needed to get that off my chest,” Ann said, breaking the silence between the two of them as she got to her feet and turned towards Akira. “I wanted to thank you earlier, but you and Sumire-san were always hanging out. Thank you again, Akira. I’ll see you tomorr–”

“Wait.” The one word escaped Akira’s lips as Ann began walking away, and he met the blonde’s shocked eyes as she tentatively turned around. ‘This doesn’t make any sense. None of them should be like this, none of them should believe me… They didn’t, so why should anyone?’ Unconsciously, Akira nails dug into his still tender palms as he stared at his “friends” in his mind’s eye. The ones that left him the moment they could, the ones that left him like this. ‘That’s right, they all threw me out after learning of my criminal record, so why would anyone even get close to me? And then… Then to stay even after learning about my record…’

“Akira? Are… Are you okay?” Ann’s voice broke Akira from his thoughts, rapidly blinking as he forced his eyes to refocus on the concerned face of the blonde. “You blanked out there.”

“I don’t understand…”

“Huh?” Ann stopped yet again as she was about to turn around. “Akira?”

“I don’t understand why anyone would believe me, especially you two after the way I acted.” Akira shook his head, a distant look returning to his eyes as he stared past Ann into the sky.

“To be honest, I don’t know your side of the story, but I did hear that you assaulted someone, that you nearly killed him.” Akira’s chest tightened, his eyes widening as his nails dug deeper into his flesh. “I… I can’t believe any of those rumors, not after what we just went through. You don’t have to believe that, but that’s how I feel.”

Despite everything pushing Akira down, the exhaustion within his mind, throughout his body, the painful memories of a time that was gone and he could never return to, despite his own will trying to prevent it, a warmth sprung within his chest as he stared at the blonde in front of him. She... She wasn’t lying, that much Akira could tell. However, even more than that, there was yet another one that was like him. That realization alone made the warmth spread further throughout Akira’s body as Ann began to turn once again to walk back underground.

“Ann,” Akira called out for the last time, seeing the surprise on Ann’s face as even he was shocked by the warmness in his voice. “See you tomorrow.”

With a final nod, Akira walked past the stunned girl and made his way down the stairs, the warmth throughout his body keeping him company as he waded through the late afternoon crowd. Stepping onto the train and sitting down again, Akira let out a sigh.

‘There’s others like me. First Sumire, then Ryuji, and now Ann…’ Akira thought, and the somehow familiar feeling of time coming to a stop occurred once again as he closed his eyes briefly.

_I am thou, thou art I…_

_This new vow to stand together_

_against the world is forged from thy shattered soul…_

_In breaking free of doubt, the chain that impedes_

_thee, is thy strength of heart made manifest._

_With the birth of the Lovers Persona,_

_thou hast obtained the wings of blessing_

_that hath strengthened thine heart even further._

* * *

“Hey Akira, you know what tomorrow is, yeah?”

“Of course,” Akira replied to the black cat as he set down his bag and fell onto the bed. His body was sore, his mind was exhausted, and, despite the ending part of his conversation with Ann, he was still fairly irritable.

“You don’t seem worried,” Morgana noted on the floor near Akira’s legs.

“Why should I? We did all we could,” Akira said simply. “Either Kamoshida drops his threats of expulsion or he doesn’t.”

“Shouldn’t you feel at least a little concerned? I mean, this could be the end of your life, especially with your record!”

“I don’t have much to live for, so this doesn’t affect me all that mu–”

“Really? What about Sumire?”

Akira audibly groaned towards the ceiling, and he slowly pushed his tired body up to a sitting position to look down at Morgana. The cat was standing on all fours and staring intently up towards Akira.

“You two have been getting closer and closer everyday since she awakened, and you can’t tell me you don’t care about her future,” Morgana continued on, taking a step forward as his tail was swinging behind him.

“Maybe, but worrying about it won’t change anything,” Akira replied, revising his answer with Sumire in mind. The cat was absolutely right; he did care about Sumire, but… something inside of him didn’t want to say it. “What about you, Morgana? What’ll you do if I get expelled?”

The cat’s ears perked up as Akira locked his eyes with the feline.

“I… I don’t know. In all honesty, the only place I had ever known was the Metaverse up until moving in here with you.” Morgana’s face fell downwards, a flash of sadness filling his eyes as Akira watched silently. “I… I don’t even know where I was born. Everything before I woke up in Kamoshida’s Palace is so blurry that I can’t pick anything out.”

“Amnesia…” Akira muttered to himself, leaning back on the bed and returning his gaze to the ceiling. “How did you even awaken to your Persona?”

“I don’t know. When I woke up I just… felt Zorro within me, but then I got captured by the guards. Then the rest is history.”

“So you don’t know much of anything is what you’re saying,” Akira said.

“Yeah, basically. I was hoping to stay here as long as I can until I figure out how to return to my original form, but if you do end up getting expelled… I’m not sure where I would go.”

“What form would that be?” Akira asked.

“Human, obviously! How else would I be able to talk?” Morgana responded defensively, but Akira just closed his eyes and fully laid down on his back.

“Alright. How do you plan on getting that form back?”

“I keep telling you, I’m a h- Wait, what? You… you believed me?”

“How’re you getting back to being a human?” Akira asked again.

“W-Well, it has to be in a certain place in the Metaverse! I-I can show it to you soon!” Morgana exclaimed, and Akira felt the bed underneath him lower slightly as Morgana jumped up next to him.

“Why would I go back into the Metaverse? We already defeated Kamoshida, didn’t we?”

“There are other Shadows like him! And besides, I helped you out! We’re in the same boat here, so why not keep teaming up?”

Akira’s eyes slowly opened as he turned his head towards the cat staring defiantly at him.

“We can make each other so much stronger, and maybe we can even look into that strange form of yours as well!”

Perhaps it was because of the strange creature before him not appearing human, perhaps it was due to the fact that Morgana didn’t have a life before meeting him, but the strange warmth from earlier in the day surged within Akira’s chest as a small sigh escaped his lips. Was this really the right path for him? 

Did he have much of a choice anymore?

“Tell me more about it after this week.

“You got it!”

_I am thou, thou art I…_

_This new vow to stand together_

_against the world is forged from thy shattered soul…_

_In breaking free of doubt, the chain that impedes_

_thee, is thy strength of heart made manifest._

_With the birth of the Magician Persona,_

_thou hast obtained the wings of blessing_

_that hath strengthened thine heart even further._

“I have school tomorrow, so I need to get to bed,” Akira said as time resumed all around him. Nearly immediately Morgana nodded and jumped off the bed. However, as Akira began shifting to lay down, the cat stopped and turned around.

“Hey Akira, could I come with you tomorrow? I want to see for myself if anything happens with Kamoshida,” Morgana asked with a pleading look on his face. “I’ll be sure to stay quiet, alright?”

“Fine,” Akira simply said, throwing his covers over him as he plugged in his phone. His room went silent as he turned off the lights, and Akira’s eyes instantly fell as his head touched the pillow.

* * *

“Why do we gotta be at an assembly this early?”

“Ugh, I know. And it’s probably only about the girl who jumped the other day.”

“Like they have to tell us to not commit suicide…”

Akira’s leg was bouncing in irritation as he stood near the walls of the gymnasium, student’s gossip being the only thing he heard as the entire school was jammed into the large area.

“And then there’s that weird calling card around a week ago as well. What was that about?”

“I don’t know, but it has to be that transfer student and demon girl, yeah?”

“I thought so too, but they looked genuinely confused about it when they were post–”

“H-Hello, Senpai,” a timid, friendly voice came from behind Akira, and the irritation building within him began dissipating as Sumire’s small footsteps stopped right behind Akira. “How are you?”

“Good. You?” Akira asked briefly, seeing some movement in front of him just to realize that it was some dumbass students messing around with each other.

“I-I’m good…” He could hear the nerves in Sumire’s voice clear as day, making it tremble as it reached his ears.

“We’ll be alright,” Akira said unprompted, his eyes fixated on the lectern in the middle of the stage.

“R-Right… I just can’t stop thinking about if we did fail…”

Just as Akira was about to turn around to comfort the redhead, his closest friend, the blob of a principal came waddling from the right towards the lectern, sweat already on his face that was visible even from where Akira was standing.

“Here comes egghead…” Akira muttered to himself, eyes sharpening as they locked onto the round man.

“Let’s begin this school-wide morning assembly. As you all know, a tragic event took place the other day,” Kobayakawa said, seemingly out of breath as he paused for a moment. “Thankfully, we have been informed that she has pulled through, but it will take time until she recovers. Everyone here has a bright future ahead. I implore that you rethink the importance of life an–”

Just as Akira was about to let out a loud snort at the egg’s absurd pleas, the door behind him leading into the gymnasium swung open being followed by loud gasps all from around the room. He heard Sumire swing around behind him, but Akira already knew who it was.

“Mr. Kamoshida, what’s the–”

“I… have been r-reborn,” Kamoshida said, the usual smugness that filled his voice completely gone as he seemingly stuttered midway through the sentence. “That is why I will confess e-everything to you all…”

Arms crossed, Akira caught Kamoshida trembling slightly as the man passed him by, but he ignored him and Sumire as the latter clung loosely onto Akira seemingly out of instinct. The decently large amount of pain was nothing to Akira as his simple gaze turned into a hateful glare; even if this was what he was expecting, Kamoshida deserved no sympathy from him.

“Senpai, what’s…”

“Just watch,” Akira replied to Sumire’s unfinished question as the trembling Kamoshida took to the stage, his eyes wide open as he stared down in front of him.

“I-I have repeatedly done things that w-were… unbecoming of a teacher. Verbally abusing students… physically a-abusing my team, and… s-sexually harassing female s-students.”

Akira’s glare sharpened with every word Kamoshida said, the dark feeling from within the Palace bubbling again within him. Such a disgraceful sight in front of him, but Akira took a deep breath as he continued watching.

“I am the reason why S-Shiho Suzui tried to k-kill herself!”

Suddenly, Kamoshida’s legs gave out as he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his downcast face. However, Akira could see something else within the man’s eyes: fear. Akira continued to stare through the monster on stage, confessing to his crimes, as the students around him began conversing with each other.

“What a creep!”

“That’s horrible!”

“A teacher would do that?”

‘Dumbasses, all of them. You were praising him not even two days ago,’ Akira thought in disgust, his brow twitching. However, as the feeling of absolute revulsion neared its peak within his gut, the two small hands on his back brought him back to his senses.

“Senpai… It’s okay,” Sumire reassured Akira, something that immediately calmed his heart. Drawing in a deep breath, Akira nodded before returning his glare onto the weeping Kamoshida.

“I thought of this school as m-my own castle… There were even students that I s-sentenced to expulsion, s-simply because I didn’t like t-them…” Kamoshida continued, his voice wavering as his tears pooled on the ground underneath him. Without Sumire’s hands keeping him grounded, Akira was certain that his resolve would have broken at that point, his own anger and pure disgust towards the man would have become too much. “I will, of course, rescind those… I am truly sorry for putting innocent youths through such horrible acts… I am an arrogant, shallow… and s-shameful person. No, I-I’m worse than that…”

Kamoshida’s face fell to the floor, his sobs echoing throughout the gymnasium while everyone could only watch. “I will take responsibility and kill myself for it!”

A cold rush flowed through Akira’s veins as he could feel the sincerity in Kamoshida’s voice, everyone around him gasping in shock and horror. He didn’t feel a single shred of pity for the sorry excuse of a man up on the stage, but… 

“Don’t run, you bastard!”

A miniscule smirk flashed across Akira’s face for the briefest of moments as he heard Ann scream at Kamoshida, everyone around him shooting their heads towards her.

“Shiho’s still alive even after all the things that made her want to die, the things you did to her! You have no right to run from this!”

“Y-You’re right… You’re absolutely right,” Kamoshida said, returning to his knees as tears still continued streaming down his face. “I should be p-punished under the law and a-atone for my crimes… I did horrible things to Takamaki-san, as well. In return for giving Suzui-san a position on the team… I t-tried to force her into having r-relations. As of today, I will resign from my position as an i-instructor and turn myself in. Someone, plase call the poli–”

All the color drained from Kamoshida’s face as he began to look around frantically, meeting Akira’s sharp, hate-filled gaze, and the man choked back on his words. The fear Akira had seen lying just beneath the guilt ladened across Kamoshida’s face was on display for everyone to see, his eyes wide and body shaking. Akira even saw the area around the disgusting man’s crotch darkened as he fell back to the ground, and Akira had to hold back a spiteful laugh at the fact that the man had pissed himself.

“N-no… please… I’ll atone for w-what I did!” Frantic ramblings came from Kamoshida, and the egg behind him suddenly came to life as he waddled towards the mess that was in the center of the stage.

“Mr. Kamoshida, please get off the stage!” The principal shouted, his voice filled to the brim with panic as the sweat droplets continued falling down his face. 

“Senpai… what’s happening?” Sumire timidly asked behind Akira, her voice barely reaching him over the sea of conversations happening around them.

“I don’t know,” Akira replied truthfully as he shook his head. He could see Ryuji within the sea of students due to the teen’s blond hair; shock was written all over his face as well.

“Please return to your classes at once! This morning assembly is over!” A nearby teacher shouted, but none of the students moved as Kamoshida’s terrified mumblings began to die down even as his body continued to shake violently.

“What do you think happened to him?”

“Were those Phantom Thieves actually legit?”

“There’s no way. Stealing someone’s desires?”

“But why would he say things like he was going to kill himself?”

“Well, if they are real it can’t be those two over there.”

Akira’s twitched ever so slightly as a nearby student jabbed a finger towards him and Sumire, clearly unaware that he was listening to everything he said. He could still feel Sumire’s hands on his back, the shaking from them having stopped a while ago, and Akira let out a sigh. ‘It’s a good thing for these idiots to convince themselves of that, but it still pisses me off.’ 

“Return to your classrooms at once!”

“Let’s go, Sumire. Meet up on the rooftop after school,” Akira said as he slowly turned towards the girl.

“O-Okay,” Sumire nodded as Akira began walking past her towards the door, pulling out his phone to text Ryuji the same thing, and the two left the gym and the fallen former Olympic medalist, now reduced to a sniveling mess as a constant stream of apologies left his mouth.

* * *

“Senpai, what are we going to do with that medal?”

Akira leaned back in his chair, his eyes focused on the gold medal sitting on the rooftop table.

“I’m not sure. We can’t keep it, though,” Akira stated, moving his gaze up to the redhead sitting opposite to him. She was much more relaxed compared to earlier in the day, Akira noticed, but his attention was drawn away from her as Morgana jumped onto the table.

“Yeah, you’re right,” said Morgana, circling next to the medal before sitting down. “But we can figure that out later! The mission was a success!”

“Yeah! I still can’t believe we did it!” Sumire joined in with the cat’s excitement, her face lighting up as she beamed over at Akira. “Maybe things will get better for us, Senpai!”

“It’ll certainly be quieter without him around, that’s for sure.” Closing his eyes, Akira felt his own body relax; it was finally over. Maybe now he could live quietly from now on, going under the radar…

“Where’s Ryuji-senpai and Ann-senpai?” Sumire asked, dragging Akira from his brief thoughts as his eyes slowly reopened.

“I’m not su–”

“Yo! Figured you guys would be up here!”

“Morgana’s here as well!”

The smile on Akira’s face vanished as the two blondes approached from behind him, two grins on their faces as they came into view.

“Hello, Lady Ann!” Morgana exclaimed, shooting to his feet as he approached the edge of the table.

“So, you guys talking about Kamoshida?” Ryuji asked as he and Ann pulled up chairs to the table, sitting in between Akira and Sumire.

“Yeah,” was all Akira responded with.

“Man, I still can’t believe it happened… It wasn’t a dream, yeah?”

“It wasn’t.” Akira reached for his soda on the table and took a small sip, feeling the strong flavors go down his throat as he leaned further back in his chair. “Things worked the way they were supposed to.”

“Yeah! He really did have a change of heart!” Morgana bounced excitedly on the table, all four teen’s gazes on him before he stopped and stared at Akira. “I was right all along about it! But I wonder about what happened to him at the very end.”

“Who cares, he’s going to prison now anyways!” Ryuji exclaimed.

Akira simply nodded towards the blond as he picked up the medal and began playing with it with a calm silence falling over the five.

“Ann-senpai, what’s wrong?” Sumire suddenly asked, and Akira looked over to see the blonde’s eyes beginning to water.

“N-Nothing, it’s just… I saw Shiho earlier today after school, and she woke up.” Ryuji and Sumire leaned forward as Ann smiled down at the table with their eyebrows raising in shock. “It wasn’t for very long, but… I got to tell her about everything today.”

“It’s finally over,” Ryuji said, his own smile warm as he stared past Akira towards Ann. “Things’re gonna get a lot more peaceful for you now. I’m glad for ya.”

“Th-Thanks…” Ann replied, wiping away her tears as she returned the gaze from her fellow blond. “Her parents are going to transfer to another school.”

“That makes sense… It’s gonna get lonely, but she’s alive! You can see her at any time now,” Ryuji reassured the girl, and Akira took the moment to steal a glance at Sumire. The redhead’s eyes widened before her smile widened, realization clear on her face from the silent message Akira sent.

“Sumire-san? Whats up?” Ann asked, and Sumire immediately shot upwards, her shoulders tensing as both blondes and cat moved their attention onto her.

“O-Oh… N-Nothing!” Sumire managed to get out as her cheeks reddened, but Akira could still see the small smile persist on her face and smiled inwards himself. Things were going to get better for her.

“So… What do you guys want to do now?” Ryuji asked, changing the subject quickly as his eyes landed on the medal in Akira’s hands. “Especially with that.”

“Oh! How about we sell it and go have a celebration somewhere!” Ann exclaimed with her face lighting up in sheer excitement.

“That sounds fun! Where should we go?” The two blondes spoke back and forth, leaving Akira and Sumire to watch in silence but, at least for Akira, that was where he was most comfortable, and the look of amusement on Sumire’s face said something similar about her as well.

“Shiho and I were looking at this one place to go too during Golden Week!”

“Right! Golden Week starts tomorrow!” Ryuji was practically bouncing in his seat, his large smile growing even more as he pulled out his phone. “How about the last day of Golden Week? That’s the… fifth, a Thursday.”

“Sounds good to me! What about you two?” Ann asked.

“Sure!” Sumire exclaimed.

“Hey, what about me?” Morgana chimed in, his back arching slightly as he turned towards Ann.

“Of course you’re invited, Morgana!”

“Senpai?”

Akira blinked a few times as he felt all four shift their gazes onto him, and he let out a sigh. Apparently going back into obscurity wasn’t an option at this point, especially with Sumire’s eyes practically boring through his head.

“Alright,” Akira eventually said, Sumire’s intensely pleading gaze getting to be too much for him as he let out a long sigh. “I’ll sell the medal, so don’t worry about that.”

“Awesome! Let us know when you do sell it, alright?” Ryuji asked, jumping to his feet and standing above Akira with a giant grin on his face as the black haired teen simply nodded.

“Oh, Sumire-san! We should exchange information!” Ann exclaimed as she pulled out her own phone.

“Me too! We should make a group chat with us four!” Ryuji’s excitement never died down as Akira reluctantly reached for his phone, Sumire’s hopeful gaze once again burning through his hesitancy as she eagerly pulled out her phone. It didn’t take long for the four to share information for each other, and Akira saw that he was placed in a group chat as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“A-Ann-senpai, you don’t have to use any formalities with me,” Sumire spoke as the other three also put away their phones. “Y-You too, Ryuji-senpai.”

“Right back at ya then, Sumire! We’re pals now, yeah? And I don’t really care much for them anyways,” Ryuji saidas he sat back in his seat.

“Y-Yeah, R-Ryuji!” 

Akira couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows; that was surprisingly easy for Sumire to drop the formalities with both of the blondes. She didn’t even give him a chance to tell her to drop the formalities, but she seemed to like it so it didn’t bother Akira too much. Before Sumire’s eyes met Akira’s once again, he blinked away the slight surprise on his face before forcing himself to his feet, his body still slightly shaky as he reached for his bag.

“I’m leaving. I’ll see you all on Thursday, I guess,” Akira said.

“Wait!” Morgana yelped and, just as Akira grabbed hold of his bag, the cat dove in and immediately settled into the black bag. “There we go!”

“S-Senpai, I’ll walk with you!” Sumire stopped Akira in his tracks as he turned around, and suddenly she was standing right next to him, a sweet smile waiting for his gaze as he looked down at her.

“See you three later!” Both blondes called from behind Akira as he led Sumire towards and through the roof door.

“Senpai, I’m so excited!” Sumire exclaimed as they reached the second floor and continued to descend towards the entrance of the school.

“Why’s that?” Akira asked, already knowing the answer.

“I get to spend more time with you!” Practically shouting, Sumire bounced ahead of Akira, her long hair waving behind her as they set foot on the first floor. Not many people were around due to school being over for around an hour or so, so Akira felt comfortable letting a slight, barely detectable smile onto his face as he followed after Sumire.

“Well, this week should be a lot calmer than the previous ones,” Akira commented, stepping through the open door as Sumire held it open for him to go outside. As the two began making their way towards the station, Akira’s small smile grew a little more and a single light chuckle escaped his lips. 

“What’s up, Senpai?” Sumire asked, tilting her head to the side as the two walked side by side.

“Feels weird to say that, is all. Never expected to make it to this point,” Akira revealed, stopping just before the station and allowing Sumire to get ahead of him a few steps before she also stopped to look back.

“Let’s make the most of it, Senpai!” Sumire exclaimed before turning back around and heading into the station, Akira right behind her as he couldn’t get the smile off his face. It wasn’t as if he was trying to wipe it off, but it was strange nonetheless for him. But it didn’t really matter, because the only person that truly understood him was right in front of him, happy as can be, so he didn’t care at that moment.

For the first time, he was actually happy; not relieved, not even content, just… happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a really fun chapter to write, and I only took, like, two to three days to write it. Now if only I could do that closer to when I released chapter 16 I would have gotten it out a lot earlier, but eh, I'm still working things out with college and all. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and be prepared for some cute Yoshizawa household shenanigans!


	18. Progress

“Buy this from me.”

With a loud thud, Akira dropped Kamoshida’s Treasure in front of the gruff man within the sketchy model gun store. While elsewhere Akira felt out of place, he felt at home in this place, but Akira never dropped the edge from his voice nor eyes as he glared at the middle aged man.

“A gold medal? Why do you have this?” The man questioned, seemingly unaffected by the daggers being fired from Akira’s eyes. “We don’t buy any fakes or stolen goods here, kid.”

“I need you to buy it,” Akira repeated. Unblinking, Akira watched as the man slowly retracted his legs from the table and moved his gaze onto the medal again, leaning right over the Treasure.

“I ain’t gonna ask where you got this. 30,000 yen, take it or leave it,” the man stated simply. A moment passed as Akira matched the man’s somehow lackadaisical yet intense gaze before he blinked and nodded. He didn’t need any more than that. The man reached down underneath where his laptop was sitting and, after waiting for a moment, Akira found 30,000 yen sitting in his hand. “It’s almost time. Kid, take this. Think of it as extra payment for that medal.”

As Akira stuffed the money in his wallet, a paper bag was shoved into his free arm, and he saw the man’s intense gaze turn deadly serious. Akira received a curt nod from the Manager before turning and beginning to walk towards the door, but side stepped out of the way as two well dressed men shoved their way into the store.

“Munehisa Iwai, yes? There are matters we’d like to discuss with you today,” the sterner of the two men asked as they stopped in front of the Manager’s desk. “Do you know why we’re here?”

“I dunno, lookin’ for evidence? You tell me, Mr. Detective,” the manager, Iwai, said with a smirk, and Akira couldn’t prevent his curiosity from getting the better of him as he looked over his shoulder towards the three.

“Watch your attitude!” The second well dressed man with a much more vulgar and wild look on his face said as he slammed his hand on the table, but Akira kept his steady gaze on Iwai as the man didn’t flinch at all.

“Well, you guys gonna search me? Go on, do what you gotta do.”

“What was that?”

Iwai was smirking as the vulgar Detective backed up, Akira noticing a slight look of surprise on his face. “An upstandin’ citizen’s supposed to cooperate with the cops, right?”

“Hey, you sure that lead was legitimate?”

“I could’ve sworn it was…” As the two Detectives spoke to one another, the younger one’s eyes met Akira’s.

‘Shit…’ Akira internally cursed as the man turned towards him.

“Hey, you!” Akira kept his face steady, his glare undetectable underneath his fake glasses as the three older men all stared at him. “What’s in the bag? Show me!”

“My lunch,” Akira responded dryly, and saw Iwai bring his hand up and let out a slight cough. 

“The kid’s a regular. You can check the tapes if you want,” Iwai responded, and Akira saw the younger Detective’s confident face break down as the older man turned to him.

“Hey, you’re talking to a kid, remember? Besides, he’s not the one we’re here to see.”

With that, Akira knew it was time to leave as he returned his head forward and opened the door.

“Come again, Kid.”

“Yeah,” Akira called back to Iwai, leaving him to deal with the two Detectives. As he walked towards the main street, he could finally feel the slight weight within the brown bag Iwai had handed him and recognized the familiar shape of the object in the bag.

‘I don’t even need to look to know this is a model gun. Probably a realistic one, if that man didn’t want the cops to see it,’ Akira thought as he continued walking through the large crowd, flipping his headphones back on and letting the first song on his playlist run. It was an upbeat song, something that practically forced a spring into his step as he walked through the dreadfully sunny day. 

The last couple of days have seen Akira’s mood brighter, and he knew the exact reason why. Although there were still questions about what would happen to Kamoshida, that power that took hold and destroyed his body, and his future at Shujin, his mind was surprisingly calm. Within his tranquil state, only one thing really stuck out within the very few passing thoughts: the meeting with Sumire’s parents tomorrow.

At first Akira wasn’t really thinking much of it; it would just be another day for him. However, as that day was nearly upon him, he realized that an event like this hasn’t occurred for him in quite a while. It was rare, but his gut was actually slightly twisted as he thought about the encounter, every step he took towards Leblanc setting him more on edge, but also… he looked forward to it.

“Welco- Oh, it’s you. Go upstairs, the place is still open,” Sojiro grunted as his and Akira’s eyes met, and Akira simply nodded despite the place being entirely empty. However, as he reached the stairs and set his foot on the first step, a loud cough came from the cafe. “Actually… Let’s have a chat.”

“Okay,” was all Akira responded with, letting out an imperceptible sigh as he turned and moved towards the older man and setting down his bag as he sat down at the counter.

“How’s school been?”

“Good.”

“Not getting into any trouble, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Keeping your grades up?”

“Yeah.”

“How’s that girl?” Sojiro asked, gaining Akira’s gaze as his eyes moved up slowly from the counter, and the man crossed his arms and closed his eyes in an almost thoughtful way. “Yoshizawa-san was her name if I remember correctly. Have you two been hanging out at all recently?”

Akira blinked slowly at Sojiro; the features on the man’s face were softened, a far cry from the stern look in his eyes not a moment ago. “She’s good.”

“Good, good. Seems like she took a liking to you, either for better or for worse for her, but she seems like a good influence. Keep her close, kid,” Sojiro said, his lips tugging upwards into a half grin, but Akira just nodded while keeping his gaze steady.

“Okay.”

‘Not like I have any other options…’

“But don’t drag her into any of your problems, you hear me? You can get yourself killed if you want, but leave her out of it.” Akira blinked slowly at Sojiro, the man’s harsh words barely stinging anymore, when he reached down into his khaki’s pocket and procured his phone “What’s wrong? Yeah, I’m heading out now. Sorry about that… I know. The usual, right? Okay, I’ll see you later.”

Akira stayed silent as Sojiro slid his phone back into his pocket, and their eyes met again. “As you can see, I’m pretty damn busy both at work and in my private life. It’d be a great help if you could lend a hand…”

“Okay.” Akira nodded curtly, the half grin on Sojiro’s face feeling somewhat familiar to him but he couldn’t place the feeling.

“Now we’re talking,” Sojiro said, a chuckle escaping his lips as his grin widening slightly. “I won’t have you work for free, though. If you help me, then… I’ll teach you how to create the perfect cup of coffee. Not a bad trade, eh?”

Akira, despite himself, perked up slightly at that. He had always enjoyed coffee, especially the rush he got from the caffeine, but he never even considered learning how to brew his own, instead settling for the cheap coffee machine his parents had back home. Sojiro clearly noticed this as another chuckle from the man reached Akira’s ears.

“I take that as a yes?” Akira just nodded, the features on his face returning to normal instantly afterwards. “Well, looks like we’ve got ourselves a deal.”

Time froze, and Akira internally groaned; how many of these things is he going to get? However, the usual warm feeling he felt in his chest with the others, Sumire being the warmest and Morgana the coolest, was missing entirely, but Akira wasn’t allowed the chance to think on why as a mysterious voice echoed within his mind.

_I am thou, thou art I…_

_Thou hast acquired a new vow._

_It shall become the wings of rebellion_

_that breaketh thy chains of captivity._

_With the birth of the Hierophant Persona,_

_thou hast obtained the winds of blessing that_

_shall lead to freedom and new power…_

‘That was different…’ Akira thought, time resuming as Sojiro blinked at him.

“Alright, let’s get you to work,” Sojiro announced, moving behind the counter and throwing an apron at Akira. “I’m going to have you do dishes for tonight. Keep quiet when there are customers around.”

“Okay.”

The next hour or so consisted of Akira painstakingly taking each dish, be it plate, bowl, or cup, and hand washing them. It wasn’t anywhere near hard work, but Akira couldn’t help but find himself getting bored early on. However, he managed to keep his attention set on the dishes, and as the final customer left for the night and after Akira washed their dirty dishes, Sojiro walked out of sight just to return with his stylish hat on and apron off.

“Heh, wearing an apron actually suits you kid,” Sojiro commented, a look of amusement on his face as he looked up and down Akira. “I appreciate you helping out, especially with you catching on quickly and staying quiet. Makes things a lot easier. I’m gonna head out for tonight. You don’t have school tomorrow, but make sure you don’t stay up too late. If you get sick, you’re taking care of yourself.”  
With only a nod from Akira, he watched Sojiro leave the store and let out a heavy sigh. His body was aching and a slight amount of pain was radiating from his still present wounds, and Akira dragged himself upstairs to find Morgana already curled up on his small bed Akira had bought around a week ago. One final groan escaped Akira as he, after getting changed and ready to sleep, fell on the bed and his eyes closed immediately.

* * *

‘Senpai’s actually coming over today… Senpai’s actually coming over today…’

Sumire was pacing around her room on the Tuesday of Golden Week and around thirty minutes before the agreed upon time when she would meet with and bring Akira to her home. She thought she had mentally prepared enough, but it wasn’t just her mind that was racing. 

“Please… Please calm down…” Sumire tried pleading with her heart, but to no avail as she could feel it beating through her chest as she laid her hand across it. “Why am I so nervous?”

The shaking throughout her body just wouldn’t stop, even as she threw herself on her bed. Every breath felt like a herculean task and her cheeks were already on fire; what was happening to her? Then, to make matters even worse for herself, she saw it. The moment that had run through her mind so many times that she had completely lost count at that point.

That smile; Akira’s smile. It felt like everywhere she looked she would see it, and it only got worse after Kamoshida’s confession. She could see an actual difference in how Akira was carrying himself, walking with some purpose in his step and not simply mechanical as when they first met. Even with all his injuries, he looked and spoke lighter, especially around her at lunchtime or after school. He looked like he was becoming happier every day, and the strange feeling within Sumire’s stomach grew more intense as her mind’s eye stared back at Akira’s smiling face.

“Why… Why does he only show me that part of himself? I’m nothing special…” Sumire muttered, but despite her own negative feelings she couldn’t get her smile off her face. “But… He shows it to me anyways. I… I must be lucky…”

“Sumire!”

“Wha–”

Shooting up to a sitting position, Sumire’s frantic eyes landed on her father just as her door finished opening, and her stomach flipped as she saw the slight grin on his face.

“Were you thinking of someone? Your mother and I could hear you from downstairs, you know,” Shinichi said, and immediately Sumire’s body’s state worsened. Her heart felt like it could pop at any moment, and she still couldn’t figure out why. ‘It’s just Senpai! Why am I reacting like this?!’

“Well, remember that you have to go get Akira. You two are making us dinner still, right?”

“R-Right!” Sumire exclaimed, popping off her bed and grabbing her phone while trying her hardest to ignore just how shaky everything was, from her legs to her voice. However, that became easy as her eyes widened while looking at her phone. “It’s already four thirty-five?!”

Rushing past her father, barely noticing but not registering the larger grin on his face, Sumire threw her phone into her pocket as she nearly slipped running down the stairs. Slipping her shoes on, Sumire grabbed hold of the front door’s handle and flung it open.

“I’ll be back!” She shouted quickly, not even waiting for a response from her parents as she was racing as fast as she could towards the Shoto Station. Any of the nerves she felt earlier were gone completely, her mind going blank as she dashed through the ever growing crowd as she quickly approached the station. It was only when she was on the train, standing in front of the doors and holding onto the bar above her that she realized what she was doing.

‘I hope he isn’t mad with me… I hope he isn’t waiting too long for me… I hope…’ As she fought to catch her breath, Sumire’s mind raced; the two had agreed upon meeting up at five pm two days prior, and Sumire was mentally kicking herself as it was four forty five pm. ‘Senpai is still around twenty minutes away even when I get to Shibuya station…’

The knot within her stomach only grew worse as she felt like the train was going painfully, unusually slow. Every other moment she checked her phone, and as the train came to a stop it was already nearing five pm. “I’m sorry Senpai, please forgive me…” Sumire whispered under her breath as she instantly rushed off the train, managing to slip in between the crowd. A few people shouted at her, some whistling as well, but Sumire didn’t even register that as she allowed her body to go on autopilot.

“I’m sorry, Senp–”

“Why’re you running, Sumire?”

Sumire froze as the incredibly familiar voice reached her ears, and out of the corner of her eyes she could see the originator of the voice walking calmly towards her. Akira wasn’t limping any longer, Sumire noticed, or at least it was barely noticeable as she turned towards him.

“I was… I thought… Are you…” Sumire kept starting, but her mind was running too fast for her to keep up with. That is, until Akira reached her and gently laid his hand on her head, and everything around Sumire felt like it slowed. Her body froze, but she wasn’t tense underneath Akira’s hand.

“Were you really going to come all the way to me?” Akira asked, and Sumire felt her mind begin to clear. However, the mere touch of Akira began making her cheeks heat up, but she couldn’t avert her eyes as Akira’s grey met her red.

“Y-Yes…”

“I already agreed to meet you here, though.”

“I-I wanted to surprise you, b-but I lost track of time…” Sumire muttered, her mind split in three between the weight of Akira’s hand on her head, the softness in his eyes, and just how close his body was to her. But, all three of those combined took all her anxiety, all her stress away as she felt like she was melting.

“Hey,” Akira’s voice was the softest Sumire had heard ever since after the Kamoshida fight, and her heart felt funny for a brief second as she was focused solely on his grey eyes. “We should get going. Don’t want to keep your parents waiting.”

“Y-Yeah!” 

Turning around, Sumire followed closely behind Akira as he removed his hand from her head and moved forward slowly. “What station do we need to go to?”

“T-The Shoto station…”

“Wait… Shoto? Are… Are you meaning to tell me that you’ve been coming from Shoto to Yongen nearly everyday for the past two weeks?!” For the first time ever, Sumire heard Akira’s voice become incredulous as he turned around towards her, and all she could do was nod shyly and avert her eyes from Akira’s wide eyes. “Seriously… The things you do for someone like me…” 

Before Sumire could respond, Akira was already walking away from her and she had to lightly jog just to keep up with his long strides. As she did catch up, she noticed Akira’s head finish shaking and his chest stop slightly convulsing, and the two entered the train to Shoto together.

“S-Senpai, you can take the seat,” Sumire said, her tongue working against her as she motioned towards a single open seat on the fairly packed train car.

“No, you sit down. You’re out of breath,” Akira replied, already grabbing hold of the handle above him. Sumire’s mouth opened, then closed, then opened again before closing one final time, her protests all failing to escape her mouth as her willpower quickly crumbled against Akira’s determined gaze and she sat down without another sound. 

“H-How has your day been, Senpai?”

‘Why am I stuttering so much?’

“Good, my body is healing nicely. Still sore and have some trouble moving, but I’m working through it,” Akira responded, seemingly, and thankfully, oblivious to the state Sumire was in.

“I-I’m glad, Senpai.” Sumire smiled up at Akira who, to her utter shock, reciprocated. While it was only a small one, Sumire’s heart felt strange yet again and she began to squirm slightly in her seat, her smile persisting as she still kept eye contact.

“How about yours? You seem jittery today.”

“H-Huh? Oh, um…” Sumire looked downwards, her hands gripping onto the simple navy skirt she wore today as she forced herself to calm down slightly. “I-I’m okay, I-I guess I’m j-just n-nervous…”

“As long as your parents don’t know about my record, it’ll be fine,” Akira reassured Sumire and, while Sumire nodded her head, she knew deep down that that wasn’t the reason.

‘Senpai… Why does he make me so nervous?’ Sumire asked herself yet again, not able to bring herself to look up at Akira for the rest of the ride back home and instead played with her skirt the entire way to the Shoto station.

“F-Follow me, Senpai,” Sumire said as she led Akira into her fairly quiet neighborhood, the other houses around the area around the same size as her own.

“Didn’t expect you to live here, Sumire,” Akira commented with his voice staying even. “Looks nice.”

“T-Thank you, Senpai.” To her utter relief, Sumire found herself calming down as she grew closer and closer to her home. Her legs had ceased most of their shaking and she had regained control over her breathing, but Sumire still found her heart beating quickly as she approached her front door to her house.

“This is your house?” Akira asked, and this time Sumire could hear the slight amount of awe in his voice as she looked behind her to see him looking upwards. 

“Mhm! My dad is the Director for Good Morning Japan, s-so we’re well o-off,” Sumire replied, letting a little giggle as she saw the small but noticeable shocked expression on Akira’s face.

“Sounds like it.”

“L-Let’s go in!” Sumire flipped back around as Akira’s gaze fell back down to meet her own, shaking her head rapidly to brush off the blush creeping back onto her face as she reached for and quickly opened the door. “D-Dad! M-Mom!”

“Hello! My name is Akane Yoshizawa, my Sumi’s mother! I assume you must be Kurusu-kun?” To Sumire’s utter horror, her redheaded mother gently moved past her and grabbed hold of Akira’s hand, shaking it vigorously with a huge, excited smile on her face.

“Yeah, nice to meet you.” Sumire stared in utter shock at Akira as his face stayed calm while her mother was over him.

“Alright, alright, don’t crowd around the young man,” Sumire’s father chuckled as he too passed by Sumire, placing his hand on her mother’s shoulder and she looked upwards with a slight pout on her face. “My name is Shinichi Yoshizawa. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kurusu-kun.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Akira said again, his hand that was trapped within Sumire’s mother’s grasp now in her father’s.

“Oh Shini, I can already see why my Sumi took a liking to him.”

“Akane…” Another chuckle escaped Sumire’s father as he let go of Akira’s hand and turned, and Sumire met Akira’s eyes to see a small smile within them. “Anyways, let’s head inside. It’s quite chilly outside.”

Sumire was passed by both her parents again as they entered into their house, leaving her alone with Akira, and her head fell downwards. “I-I’m sorry, S-Senpai…”

“For what?”

“M-My parents can be a bit… overwhelming,” Sumire said, keeping her gaze downwards, but it shot upwards as a lighthearted scoff came from above her and her eyes landed on Akira’s half grinning face.

“It’s alright, Sumire. They seem nice,” Akira responded and, for the second time that day, Sumire froze as his hand fell upon her head. “I’ll be fine, Sumire.”

“S-Senpai…” Sumire breathed out in amazement; it felt like ages ago that the older boy in front of her was running away from her, but in reality it was less than a month ago. Though, her mind couldn’t linger on that amazement for very long as the feeling of his hand became prominent, but it didn’t stay for very long as it lifted off her head, leaving a slight feeling of disappointment in her chest. “W-We should get inside, Senpai!”

Without waiting for Akira to respond, Sumire twirled around and quickly entered into her home, and she felt her heart speed up as Akira’s footsteps were heard behind her. ‘Please… Please calm down, heart.’

“To think that our Sumi would have a boy over…”

“You wanted him to come over, Akane.”

“I know! I’m just so excited!”

Sumire let out a sigh. ‘They’ve been like this ever since I told them he would come over…’ She thought, shaking her head rapidly as she hurriedly led Akira towards the Kitchen while her parents were in the Living Room. Her entire body was still shaking, but she felt a wave of calm wash over her as she walked through her Kitchen and stopped in front of the stovetop.

“S-Senpai, are you ready?” Sumire asked as she turned towards Akira, letting out a small noise as he was far closer than she was ready for.

“Yeah. What’re we making?” Akira responded calmly. The rush of heat that made its way to Sumire’s face persisted as she stared up at Akira, but the sudden panic that had set in momentarily vanished, the tranquility coming off Akira allowing her heart some rest as well.

“I-I was thinking of something simple, so we’re making Omurice?” Sumire timidly said, though the statement came out more timidly than she wanted.

“[Alright, what do we need](https://youtu.be/V6jfcfav7IU)?” Akira asked immediately. As soon as his voice met Sumire’s ears she turned around, an excited gleam entered her eyes and she rushed towards the pantry right next to the refrigerator and, while feeling Akira’s gaze on her, grabbed everything they would need for four Omurice. 

“First, we need to chop the onions finely,” Sumire began, handing Akira the knife she always used and stepping out of the way of the cutting board where the four halves of onions sat. To her, it felt strange seeing Akira with an actual knife after seeing him fight in the Metaverse, but what wasn’t surprising in the least was how cleanly and effectively he handled it.

“Next, we need to cut up the chicken into small chunks, around one centimeter each. We need to rinse off the knife afterwards so it doesn’t contaminate anything else, and we’ll use this other cutting board for it.” Sumire moved gracefully as she situated the chicken on the new board. She didn’t realize it, but her body wasn’t shaking and her heart stilled even as she stood inches away from Akira as he worked. “You’re a natural, Senpai!”

“What’s next?” Akira asked, and Sumire almost grinned upwards at him; she could hear the slight amount of excitement in his voice and even see his eyes sparkling.

“We’ll heat up some oil in this pan,” Sumire began, reaching up and grabbing a pan from above the counter and moved towards the stovetop right next to their work area. “Put the cut onions on there until they turn translucent, and then we’ll add the chicken, okay?”

“Got it.”

It didn’t take long for the onions to soften, and Sumire assisted Akira as he began putting the chicken into the pan, a piece nearly falling onto the floor as Sumire caught it and threw it in with the rest. “The chicken won’t take very long to cook, but we can start on the omelettes right now while we’re waiting.”

Sumire grabbed yet another pan from the rack and set it beside the cooking onions and chicken along with a small bowl. “I was taught to mix one egg and one tablespoon of milk together. This part is a little tricky, so I can show you how to do this first one until the chicken is done cooking.”

“Sounds good,” Akira nodded, and Sumire could feel his gaze only on her as she whisked together the egg and milk before pouring the mixture into the already oiled pan. “You’re really enjoying yourself, Sumire.”

“Mhm!” Sumire happily nodded as her eyes darted between the two pans beneath her, her hand flying to the heat dial to turn down the flames as the bottom of the egg set. “Let’s put the rest of the ingredients in, ending with the ketchup and soy sauce. Then we’ll leave it over very low heat while we heat up the rest of the eggs!” As Sumire spoke, she kept her eyes on the eggs in front of her as Akira did just as she said, laying across the rice, mixed veggies, ketchup and sauce over to. She grated some cheese onto the quickly setting egg, a slight smile on her face as she saw Akira to her right finishing the large amount of fillings. “Senpai, can you mix that up and then put around a fourth of that into the omelette?”

Akira nodded and immediately did just that, right afterwards Sumire flipped the egg over the fillings and slid the completed meal onto one of the four plates she set out earlier. “Alright, your turn to make the omelettes, Senpai! I’ll make sure each one stays warm, so don’t worry about that.”

The two worked quickly and effectively, Sumire letting herself relax as she stared at Akira’s hands as they worked with the eggs. (END SONG) ‘They’re so torn up…’ she couldn’t stop the thought as it passed through her mind, feeling her heart fall as she was brought back to that moment.

_Sumire stared upwards from the ground, shaking with immeasurable pain as she kept her eyes on the sole standing member against the demon towering above her. Her body was torn and her vision was blurred, but she could see Akira’s arm outstretched, the attack that had put her in this state easily being held back. Then, it began. Smoke began pouring around Akira and covering his body, from his legs all the way up to his face, until she couldn’t see him anymore. She wanted to scream, to call out his name; to do anything, but she couldn’t._

_Then she heard the near deafening crunch. Red lined the entirety of Akira’s new armor, reminding her instantly of blood as the lines looked like veins. Even his greatsword, which formed within his hand after tearing off Kamoshida’s arm, was blood red along with the jetblack color of the blade._

“Hey, Sumire.”

“H-Huh?!”

Sumire looked around wildly, her unfocused eyes shooting to the black haired teen to her right staring directly into her eyes. 

“Are you okay? I’ve plated the rest of the Omurice,” Akira said, motioning towards the four plates on the island behind them.

“O-Oh! I’m okay, Senpai…” Sumire’s eyes, despite her best attempt at fighting back, began lowering towards the ground, that horrifying sound playing over and over within her mind, when her head was gently but somewhat forcefully pulled back upwards to meet Akira’s eyes. Within the grey orbs was kindness, seriousness, and concern all mixed together.

“Were you thinking about that again?” Akira asked with his voice brimming with concern, putting a slight amount of emphasis on ‘that’. Sumire could only nod slightly, Akira’s soft but broken hand underneath her chin filling her mind and erasing that awful memory, at least for the moment. “It’s okay now, Sumire. What happened happened, and I dealt with the consequences of what I did. I’m okay, Sumire, and I’m stronger now for that moment.”

“W-What?” Sumire whispered, her voice getting caught in her throat as Akira’s smile, the other moment that had been a constant in her mind ever since it happened, reached his eyes.

“If you didn’t pull me out, I would’ve been stuck in that darkness. But you didn’t let me go down that path, so…” Akira paused, closing his eyes as Sumire stared inawe at him. “So I won’t let you either.”

Her ears must have been failing her. Sumire couldn’t believe what was being said to her, what Akira was saying to her. Was she really that worth it? Did she really deserve something like that from Akira? Before she knew it, two tears began streaming down her pink cheeks, her lips tugging upwards as she matched Akira’s smile. ‘It doesn’t matter. No matter how useless I am, Senpai… appreciates me. He let me close to him, and now he’s helping me again.’

“This feeling again…” Sumire muttered as she clutched her hand over her heart, feeling it about to burst out of her chest once again. She thought she had grown to dislike the feeling. It made her feel uncomfortable, but now it was different. Sumire couldn’t explain why it felt unlike before, but the burning feeling within her chest was comforting, a feeling she was quickly getting used to but still didn’t understand.

“What feeling?” Akira asked quietly, and Sumire instantly perked up.

‘I said that out loud, didn’t I?’

“U-Um… N-Nothing!” Sumire exclaimed, and thankfully the questioning look within Akira’s eyes faded only to be replaced by a look of realization as he pulled his hand away from Sumire’s chin. The warmth within Sumire’s chest died down, her face falling into a pout as her mind raced to find a reason as to why. That is, until the smell from the food the two made wafted into her nostrils and she turned towards the four plates that were sitting behind her. “You did finish them all!”

“What, did you not believe me?”

“N-No! I-I’m j-just impressed a-at how f-fast you learned!” Sumire exclaimed as she waved her hands wildly in front of her, stopping only as a low chuckle came from the boy in front of her.

“I know. You’re a good teacher,” Akira said, his smile persisting as Sumire slowly put down her arms. A silence was formed and subsequently broken between the two as a low rumble came from Sumire’s gut, and her already heated cheeks grew warmer. “Let’s go.”

Sumire shyly nodded her head as she and Akira picked up two plates each and walked them towards the empty Dining Room. Setting the table, Sumire also grabbed knives and forks to go beside the plates.

“All done cooking, you two?” Sumire’s father asked as he and Akane, hand in hand, walked through the other doorway into the dining room.

“Mhm!” Sumire nodded her head, walking beside Akira as the two approached and kneeled down at the kotatsu with her parents sitting opposite of them.

“This smells amazing, you two!” Sumire’s mother exclaimed and, before Sumire could respond, she looked up and grinned at her. “So, how was your two’s d–”

“Thank you for the meal!” Shinichi suddenly called out being followed by the three others doing the same, and the room was filled with the clattering of forks as all four dug into their food at the same time. 

Omurice was something Sumire rarely had despite its simple recipe and instructions, but every time she had it she was reminded of why she loved it so much. The sweet and salty taste coming from the ketchup and soy sauce complimented each other perfectly along with bringing out the best of every ingredient in the rice filled omelette.

“This is really good, Sumi!” Akane said after a particularly big mouthful. “You’re not eating as quickly as usual, Sumire. Are you afraid of eating that fast in front of Kurusu-kun?”

“M-Mom!” Sumire yelled, the rush of heat she thought she rid herself of returning in full force.

“I’ve already seen how fast she’s eaten before,”Akira chimed in, forcing Sumire’s gaze onto him as she opened her mouth in protest, but she saw the plainly serious look in his eyes and slowly closed it. “Also, call me Akira. No honorifics needed, Yoshizawa-san.”

“Then you can also call me by my first name! You can use honorifics if you want, same with my husband,” Akane quickly replied, and Akira simply nodded as he returned to his food. Sumire was about to do the same by slowly shovelling a small bite into her mouth when her stomach growled again, and she couldn’t control herself anymore.

“There it is,” Shinichi said as Sumire devoured her plate, his words not registering in Sumire’s mind even as her fork clinked against an empty plate.

“You must have been hungry,” Akane commented, the smile on her face making Sumire’s stomach sink as it bordered on a grin more than anything else. “Did you have that much fun wi– Hahaha! S-Shini, s-stop that!”

Sumire’s eyes widened as she saw her father reach over and tickle Akane’s stomach, sending a wave of giggles throughout the room as Sumire and Akira made eye contact. She could see the confusion in Akira’s eyes, but truthfully Sumire wasn’t sure what had gotten into her dad; he never acted this forward with her mom.

“You’re so silly, Akane!” Shinichi lightly teased, tears forming in Akane’s eyes as he finally stopped.

“Mom, Dad, what was that?” Sumire asked for both her and Akira, her head tilted as she looked between her parents.

“Your mother and I have created a game of who can catch the other off guard the most! I got you there huh, Akane?” Sumire’s eyes narrowed at her father as he looked over expectantly at her mother.

“Y-Yeah, it’s a game between us!” Akane reaffirmed, and Sumire had to relent as the three around her finished their half eaten plates.

“So Akira-kun, Sumire has told me that you're a new student at Shujin as well,” Shinichi began, gaining Akira’s attention as Sumire glanced between the two. “How is the new school treating you?”

“Alright,” Akira replied simply with a slight shrug, but Sumire couldn’t help but look concernedly over at him.  
“That’s good to hear, especially coming from the one that’s helped my daughter so much.” Both of Sumire’s parent’s faces dropped slightly at the comment.

“She’s the one that helped me.”

“Oh?” As Sumire was about to comfort her parents, their heads rose back up, their eyebrows raised as they stared intently at Akira. 

“She’s the first person I got to know from school and my closest friend there,” Akira continued on, his face betraying nothing as it remained still, but Sumire felt her heart get lighter as the funny feeling returned. 

“That’s wonderful to hear, Akira-kun! You’ve made a really great friend, Sumire!” Akane exclaimed, and once again Sumire felt on edge as her grin began reappearing.

“It does set my heart at ease knowing you two are so close already. Sumire, have you…”

“I-I have, Dad,” Sumire responded, seeing the serious expression on her dad’s face that told her enough of what he was going to say, but she let a smile on her face as she closed her eyes. “B-But Senpai has helped me realize that she’s still alive and that I can make up with her.”

Sumire reopened her eyes to be met with two watery gazes from her parents and, making her heart beat ever faster, a small smile from Akira. Her own grew a little wider as she returned her eyes onto her parents. “W-Without Senpai, I-I would s-still be t-trapped…”

“Don’t say that.” Sumire’s head swiveled towards Akira as he shook his head lightly. “I didn’t do much. You’re the one who let those words sink in, not me.”

“Oh… My… God…” Sumire’s stomach, for the third time that day, fell as she saw her mother reach over and grab her father’s hand out of the corner of her eye. “Can’t you two just get m- Shini!”

“Got you again, honey!” Shinichi exclaimed, this time with a much more nervous look written across his face as he sent his wife into another fit of giggles with his relentless tickling. “You’re so easy to get like that!”

“S-Shini… D-Don’t they l-look so g-g-goo- Hahaha! S-Stop!” Sumire watched in awe as her mother fell onto her back and, as equally as surprising, her father continued the chase, never letting up as tears of laughter spilled from her eyes. 

“How about you two hang out for a while? Perhaps your room, Sumire?” Her father asked over the hysterical laughter coming from her mother. Sumire simply looked at her father for a moment when all the heat she had dispelled earlier came rushing back. “We’ll clean up the mess down he- You’re not getting away that easy! We’ll clean up the mess down here, so you two go ahead.” Shinichi had to stop as Akane tried to escape his clutches, the two with giant grins on their faces as Sumire looked over to see Akira staring at her and climbed to her feet. “C-Come with m-me, S-Senpai…”

Every step she took, Sumire’s heart pounded that much harder. She tried not to focus on the fact that she was taking Akira to her room, but the sounds of his footsteps right behind her made that fact painfully clear in her head as she grew closer and closer to her room. Even taking deep breaths didn’t help as shivers ran across her body, but she closed her eyes and pushed open her door into her room, stepping inside with Akira right behind her.

“H-Here we a-are…” Sumire muttered, unable to control her voice as it broke while she walked towards her bed. “T-T-There’s a s-stool o-o-over there, S-S-Senpai…”

“Thanks.” Sumire felt a pang of jealousy towards Akira; how could he stay so calm while her body felt like it was about to shut down? She shook her head vigorously as she plopped down onto her bed while Akira grabbed the stool she motioned to and sat down, staring directly towards Sumire as he did so. “What’s wrong?”

“W-W-What?!” Sumire yelped, wincing as she heard her voice break and shake. No one besides her family has ever been in her room before, let alone a close friend. Then again, she never truly had a friend before Aki-

“Your face is red, Sumire. Are you sick?” Akira asked. Sumire felt her stomach do flips as she tried to look into Akira’s eyes to see whether he was serious or not, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so as she felt her heart nearly stop every time her eyes ran across his face. “Do you want me to get your paren–”

“I-I-I’m fine, S-Senpai!” Sumire let out as Akira was beginning to get up. She could see out of the corner of her eyes that Akira stopped and sat back on the stool and let out a slight sigh, her body still shaking and her heart nearly bursting out of her chest.

“Your parents are interesting,” Akira continued on, showing to Sumire that he was clearly oblivious to what was happening to her, and Sumire could only nod. “After hearing you lived in this area I expected them to be the generic rich snobs, but it’s clear that I was wrong.”

For a single instance, Sumire’s body returned to normal as her eyes landed on Akira. A light chuckle was coming from him along with another small smile, his eyes behind his glasses soft compared to the usual neutral or outright aggressive gaze he always had. But then the moment passed and Sumire’s body resumed shaking, and she forced her eyes away from Akira. However, her own smile covered her face, and she felt herself calm down slightly to regain some control over her breathing.

“I-I’m happy to hear that, Senpai,” Sumire said, a wave of relief hitting her as she found herself with some control over her voice. ‘It’s just Akira. If he’s not nervous, I don’t have any reason to be either.’

“I’m happy for you, Sumire.” The wistfulness within Akira’s voice instantly set Sumire on edge and her eyes shot towards Akira’s face only to see his slight smile written across his face. “You have good parents that care about you.”

“T-Thank you, Senpai…” Sumire responded. Deep within Akira’s eyes, she could see just a hint of sadness, and Sumire knew what that was. Akira never came out and said it outright, but it was obvious that something happened with his own parents. The unease within her body grew and grew as her gaze was barely able to stay on Akira, a strained silence setting between the two. She desperately wanted to ask him about his past, what had happened exactly; she still didn’t know his story, but she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable or bring up anything painful. That was the absolute last thing she wanted to do.

“Are you okay, Sumire?”

“U-Um… Yeah…” Sumire nodded, now unable to rip her eyes away from Akira’s as the hurt deep within the grey orbs vanished. She didn’t want to ask him, but the silence that once again fell between the two was quickly becoming unbearable as her hands went down to play with her skirt again. Before long, Sumire reached her breaking point; she needed to break the silence. “H-Hey, S-Senpai? W-W-What actually h-happened?”

“Hm?” Akira raised his eyebrows, but Sumire held her already shaky resolve steady enough to continue holding her gaze with his.

“C-Can you tell me what happened the day you got your record?” Immediately, Sumire saw Akira’s eyes darken and fell to the floor. “S-Sorry! I shouldn’t have brought that u–”

“[A man](https://youtu.be/-SrFE59T5lI) was bothering some woman as I was heading home after the school day. It was dark, and I had to stay back to help a… a friend,” Akira began, his face becoming noticeably harder with every word he spoke. “The man and woman clearly knew each other, but I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. He was drunk and got up in my face, clearly already irritated, and tried to throw a punch at me. I moved out of the way easily, but the man tripped and hurt himself.”

“T-Then how did you…”

“The police were called by someone in the neighborhood, but for some reason they recognized that man. I could see the respect and fear in their eyes.”

“What about the woman?”

“She said that I assaulted him.”

“What?!” Sumire nearly screamed, jumping off her bed. The story had her in a trance, but hearing that snapped her out of it and made her blood boil. “But you didn’t do anything wrong, Senpai!”  
“Calm down,” Akira said simply, his face returning to its even state as Sumire made eye contact with him again. 

“S-Sorry, but…” Sumire trailed off, forcing herself to take a few deep breaths before sitting back onto her bed. “But that’s horrible, Senpai!”

“I can’t do anything about it now. I got an assault charge put onto my record and was sent here, not after having to finish out the school year back home.”

Sumire didn’t need to ask how that was; the dark look within Akira’s grey eyes said everything she needed to know, and her heart sank. “What about your parents?” She regretted asking that question immediately, Akira wincing slightly before returning to the state of normalcy for him.

“No one wants a criminal son, Sumire. No one,” Akira said calmly, but Sumire could feel the anguish within his voice as he spoke and could see the pain written deeply within his face. 

‘He’s… He’s been carrying this around with him for this long? I… I didn’t even know…’ Sumire thought to herself, her mind beginning to wander before landing on the day they became friends, the day she awakened.

“I… I’m such a bad friend…” Sumire began, and she half expected Akira to interrupt her, but nothing came as she continued on. “You… You’ve been hurting for so long, Senpai… And I never bothered to ask you… I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault, so don’t apologize,” Akira replied sternly, his voice snapping Sumire’s falling head back up to his face to see his sharp eyes locked onto her. “Besides, you were going through something worse than that. My problems pale in comparison to yours.”

“B-But…!” (END SONG)

“Both of those things are in the past, though. Be it fate or pure luck we found each other, and somehow… somehow you pulled me out. I don’t know how you did it or even why, but you fixed me, at least by a small amount. Without you, I would still be alone, no one to rely on.”

“Senpai…” Sumire whispered. Her body was light as she stared at Akira, a full smile covering his face mixed with the pain that had been a part of him since she met him. Her heart was calm as she stared at Akira, a stark difference to how it was beforehand, but Sumire found herself not lingering on that as her own small smile grew to match Akira’s. “You’ve helped me so much as well. Without Kasumi, I was scared and all by myself. Alone, I’m useless to everyone, but with her I could do anything. But after she… saved me, I was lost. I didn’t have any purpose in life, but then… then you came along. I wouldn’t have made it this far without you, Senpai.”

“Don’t over exaggerate, Sumire. You’re far stronger than you think you are.”

“That goes for you as well, Senpai.”

The two teens gazed into each other’s eyes, admiration filling their orbs as their smiles persisted and actually grew on their faces. One needed the other and vice versa; that was how their relationship was built. Without one another, they would have been haunted by their demons everyday, unable to make it through the day. 

“I need to get back. We’ve got that meeting with the others tomorrow, yeah?” Akira asked as he broke eye contact much to Sumire’s disappointment.

“Yeah…” Sumire replied, unsure of why her heart was sinking so much. ‘I guess I really like spending time with Senpai…’

“Oh, are you two done?!” Sumire’s mother asked as Sumire was leading Akira downstairs and towards the door.

“Mhm, we’re meeting with some other people from school for lunch tomorrow,” Sumire responded, seeing her parents walking hand in hand from the living room towards her and Akira.

“Thank you for having me over, Akane-san, Shinichi-san,” Akira said, both him and Sumire reaching the bottom of the stairs and turning towards Sumire’s parents.

“Oh, don’t mention it dear! Any friend of my Sumi is welcome any time here!” Akane exclaimed with Shinichi nodding right beside her.

“That’s right. Feel free to stop by, Akira. I’m sure Sumire would love to have you over again.” Sumire met her father’s eyes and nodded enthusiastically; the happiness within them was astonishing to her, spreading to hers as she reached for the door.

“Do you want me to come to the station with you, Senpai?” Sumire asked slightly hopefully as she opened the door for Akira, who was slipping his shoes back on.

“No, I’ll be fine by myself. Thanks though,” Akira responded, and for hopefully the last time Sumire felt funny as she saw the remnants of Akira’s smile on his face. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sumire.”

“Bye, Senpai!” Sumire exclaimed, fighting against the pang of loneliness in her chest as Akira turned and walked out the door. She wanted to keep the door open, to go after him and walk with him, but Sumire eventually forced herself to close the door and turned towards her parents only for her gut to fall instantly upon seeing her mother’s smirk.

“So, what were you two doing upstairs?” She asked, and Sumire’s calm heart once again instantly began racing. The realization that not only a boy was in her room but Akira set in again, and her eyes widened as she took a step backwards.

“W-We just talked, mom!” Sumire sputtered, the heat that was simultaneously foreign and very much familiar to her returning to her cheeks.

“Oh? Is that really all?” Akane’s grin only grew, taking a step towards Sumire as she released her husband’s hand. “You seem to really like Akira, Sumire.”

“I-I do!” Sumire responded immediately, but covered her face instantly as her mother let out an excited giggle.

“I knew it!”

“Alright, Akane, don’t you think that’s enough?” Sumire’s father cut in, stepping to Akane’s side once again and gaining her gaze as a small pout formed on her face.

“If I stop, do you promise not to tickle me anymore?”

“I only did that just so you wouldn’t tease the two any further…” Shinichi sighed, seemingly unaware of Sumire looking between her parents in confusion. 

“But look at them! How can I not say what’s on my mind?” Akane fired back.

“Oh you…”

“You have to feel the same way, right Shini?”

“Well of course, but we can’t be embarrassing them twenty-four seven,” Sumire’s father said, letting out a chuckle as he met Sumire’s gaze. “Why don’t you head upstairs, sweetie? I’m sure you want to get a good night’s rest before meeting up with Akira again tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Sumire nodded, her eyes narrowing as she looked between her parents for another moment before turning towards her stairs. “Love you, mom, dad! Thank you for being nice to Akira-senpai!”

“Of course, Sumi! You two are so nice to each other,” Sumire’s mom almost purred, a slight giggle coming from her as Sumire’s dad moved his hand. “G-Good night, sweetie!”

“Good night, Sumi.”

With one final confused smile to her parents, Sumire climbed up the stairs and entered into her room. The instant her body hit her bed her eyes began to fall. ‘I must really have been tired today…’ Sumire thought, letting out a long yawn as she pulled out her phone. An instant smile flashed across her face as she let her phone fall onto her chest, the peace filling her body pairing with her tiredness as she couldn’t stay awake any longer.

_Akira: Today was enjoyable, Sumire, especially cooking. While I’m not comfortable telling your parents about my record yet, I can tell that they’re good people. I needed to get that off my chest, so I’m glad you asked me. I don’t know where I would be without you._

_Akira: Thank you, Sumire._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back at it again with another Shattered chapter! I told you all this one was going to be good and hoooo boy did I have fun with it! I hope you all enjoyed it as well, and this part of the story is finally coming to a close with the next chapter! If you missed it and are a fan of my other work, Your Purpose was recently updated for the first time in months! I hope you all continue following this story and maybe that one as well, because I have some great ideas for both of them!


	19. The Beginning

“Kasumi…” 

As Sumire’s parents walked through the hospital doors, she followed a few paces behind. Her stomach was turning and her heart was beating. Today was the day. But… was she really ready?

“Sumi, are you okay?” Sumire’s father asked as he turned away from the receptionist desk, and Sumire met his eyes and her heart dropped further. The desperation within his eyes was screaming at her to be strong, telling her to keep going, but she couldn’t shake the awful feeling within her.

“M-Mhm,” Sumire responded, swallowing the lump building within her throat at least for the moment, and her parents nodded hesitantly before turning back around.

‘What if I’m not strong enough? Can I really face Kasumi as I am now? What if she hasn’t gotten better? What if she’s gotten worse?’ Sumire’s head swirled with negative thoughts as her parents led her to the waiting room. She could only place one foot in front of the other, her head hanging low as her eyes remained widened. ‘Senpai is wrong about me… I’m weak. I… I can’t do this. I can’t see Kasumi like this…’

“Sumire, if you don’t want to do this it’s okay,” Sumire’s mother said softly, and Sumire let her right hand be taken into her sweet mother’s hand. 

‘I… I’m letting my parents down by backing out now… But seeing Kasumi after what happened… what I did to her…’

The deep, dark swirling thoughts, Sumire’s doubts, forced her mouth open as she turned towards her parents with tears building within her eyes. She couldn’t do it. She wasn’t ready, nor would she ever be. She was the one that stole Kasumi’s dream away, so what right did she have to see her? 

‘What was I thinking? I’m never going to be strong enough… I’m sorry, mom, dad…’

However, as Sumire was about to speak, she felt her phone vibrate within her simple red jacket. She knew it was Akira as no one else texted her, and her heart sank. ‘What would Senpai think of me right now? He would be so disappointed… After everything he’s done for me, and now I’m too weak to even see Kasumi...’

Despite her fears, Sumire reached for her phone and timidly pulled it out, her left hand shaking as she felt both her parents’ patient gazes resting on her. She didn’t deserve their love, nor did she deserve Akira’s respect. She was useless and a burden to everyone; she knew that.

‘The complete opposite of Kasum–’

“H-Huh…?” Sumire whispered. The tears falling from her face immediately began falling faster, quickly blurring her vision, but she brushed them away as she read Akira’s message over and over again.

_Akira: Wanted to give you an update. My body is getting better every day. I needed yesterday, Sumire, so thank you again. You probably don’t believe me, but you’ve helped me. A lot._

_Akira: You’re going to see your sister today, right? I know you were excited yesterday and it seemed like your resolve was set, but don’t push yourself. It’s okay to back out at any point, but I’m sure your parents have told you that._

_Akira: I need to go. Good luck, Sumire, and see you tomorrow._

Sumire couldn’t stop herself as a small sob escaped from her mouth. Her tears were falling onto her phone, but she didn’t care. Akira had messaged her to thank her, but in that moment all she wanted to do was thank him. 

“Sumire! Are you okay?” Her parents asked simultaneously, Sumire’s father leaning down in front of her while her mother squeezed her hand tighter. Sumire was only able to allow a small smile onto her face as her tears continued streaming down her lightly colored cheeks. Her voice was caught in her throat, but the obstruction in her chest had dissipated.

‘How… How is this possible? How can he make me feel better with just a text?’ Her grip around her phone tightened, taking one final glance down at Akira’s texts to make sure they were real before bringing the device up to her chest and right above her beating heart. ‘He’s amazing… While I’m sitting here feeling sorry for myself…’

“Akira-senpai… Thank you…” Sumire managed to say, sniffling as her tears continued flowing down her face but gradually slowed to a steady stream. She raised her head to meet her parents’ with their smiles and their tears matching her own. “Mom… Dad… I’m ready.”

“Sumire…” Shinichi gasped, his tears falling faster as Sumire held her gaze with him. Then, her face was against his chest, his arm wrapped around her head with her mother hugging Sumire with her other free hand. “I’m so, so proud of you. You’re so strong.”  
“You’ve come so far, sweetie, in such a short amount of time,” Akane sniffled as she gently stroked Sumire’s long, red hair. “I guess we have Akira-kun to thank, huh?”

“Not just him… Thank you, mom, dad,” Sumire said, the warmth in her chest battling back the despair that had set in not a minute prior. “I… I don’t know where I would be without you two.”  
“If you three could come with me.” Sumire stared into her father’s chest as she was gently lifted up and was led by both her parents upwards after a pretty looking nurse. She didn’t feel nervous anymore; she was going to do this, for her parents, for Akira, and for herself. 

“Her condition is stable, but she still hasn’t responded to any stimuli,” the nurse said as she stopped in front of a door. Sumire stared straight forward, her hands locked with her parents and determination lit within her eyes. “Are you three ready?”

With a large nod from Sumire, her parents doing the same, the nurse turned and opened the door. One final deep breath was all Sumire needed to propel herself into the white, comforting room. A large plant was in the corner of the room with a small television in the other, but Sumire didn’t take any of that in as her eyes landed on her closest friend and sister.

“Kasumi…” Sumire whispered. Tears welled up in her eyes once again, but she didn’t avert her eyes as her parents squeezed her hands. Tubes came from all over Kasumi’s face, Sumire assuming for oxygen and food and water, but otherwise she was situated under a hospital standard blanket with some bandages still wrapped around her head. She looked so… peaceful. Her chest was rising and falling rhythmically and Sumire took another breath, this one slightly shaky, before she stepped forward. Her parents released her hands, but Sumire was okay; she knew that with them behind her and with Akira’s words within her heart, she could do this.

“Kasumi, I… I’m so sorry,” Sumire began as she reached the edge of the hospital bed. “I’m sorry for running away that day. I… I couldn’t take it anymore. I… I hope you can forgive me someday... God, there was so much more I wanted to say to you, but… but the words won’t come to me anymore.”

Sumire looked upwards to see her father smiling down at her, his hand on Sumire’s shoulder, and she realized then that she had Kasumi’s hand in hers as she looked back down at her sister. Then, it hit her.

“Oh!” Sumire perked up, her welling tears fading away as she stared somewhat excitedly down at Kasumi. “You’ll never believe me, but I met someone amazing recently. H-His name is Akira Kurusu, but I call him Senpai. A-At first I think he was annoyed by it, but now I can tell he’s used to it. He’s a lot like you, Kasumi. He’s kind, caring, and bold. He’s a lot nicer to me than I deserve, and I actually think it would make you jealous how nice he is to me. He kind of took over your role.” Sumire giggled and, for a brief moment, she could have sworn she saw a smile form on Kasumi’s face. But the moment passed as quickly as it came, her sister’s face as if it had never changed, and Sumire shook off her confusion and sadness as she slightly smiled downwards. 

“Coach is doing well. She’s pushing me harder than ever, but she actually gave an extra day off. Unexpected, right? I’ve been inconsistent in my performance, but ever since the school year began and I met Akira-senpai I’ve felt myself improving gradually. I… I really wish you could be there as well, but I know that’s me being selfish.” Sumire paused, taking a deep breath. Her heart was beating quickly and her body was shaking, but she had come this far to turn back. “You… You saved me, Kasumi. I don’t think there’s anything I could do to make it up to you, but… I’ll try and keep my head up. For you.

A tear rolled gently down Sumire’s cheek as she leaned down to Kasumi and stared directly at her peacefully resting face. “I love you.”

* * *

_Sumire: Senpai, do you still want to meet up before we head to the place Ann-senpai told us about?_

_Yeah. Meet at the Central Square in Shibuya_

_Sumire: Okay, see you there!_ _  
_ With a small grin, Akira tucked his phone back into his pocket and let out a small groan as he lightly stretched his arms above his head. His body was still sore and he felt a small yet constant pain pulsing throughout, but it was progressively getting better and better.

“You look pleased about something, kid,” Sojiro commented, and Akira’s face returned to its normal state as he simply nodded.

“Meeting with Sumire today,” Akira replied dryly. Arcana, bonds, vows; none of those things still made any sense to him, but Akira simply shook his head and downed the rest of his coffee. He had one of those things with Sojiro now even though he was certain that the man hated him.

‘Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I only need Sumire, and with her I’ll be fine,’ Akira thought, pushing himself from the table and turning towards the door.

“See you, kid. And make sure you don’t stay out too late! I need you to do some dishes for me later tonight!”

“Okay,” Akira called back, exiting the cafe and into the sunny daylight. On any other day he would be merely tolerant of the sunlight, on the bad ones outright irritated, but today was different. There was a slight spring to his step and Akira found himself on more than one occasion humming along to his music. He was in a good mood. No, he was actually in a great mood.

‘How can one person have this much effect on me?’ Akira happily remarked within his mind, unable to shake the feeling but just able to hide the smile creeping up onto his face. He would never say it, but he was only comfortable with Sumire seeing that side of him, the side that he liked to believe was his true side. ‘That doesn’t matter either, though. She helped me reach this point. Helped me… become who I was, at least by a little.’

Akira found himself on the train from Yongen to Shibuya, not exactly certain how he got there as quickly as he did but shrugged if off. The train ride was quick and silent, exactly as Akira wanted it. Perhaps he was lucky, but Akira had been able to get a train seat for the past couple of days, and let out a tiny sigh as he allowed his sore body to relax.

‘I expected Igor to try and contact me again… I still have so many questions. About what happened to Kamoshida, about that armor, and about what exactly entered my body when Sumire comforted me…’ Akira allowed the smile that was trying so desperately hard to get onto his face to pull his lips upwards ever so slightly. ‘I’m damn lucky she did, or I’d be dead.’ It felt strange for Akira to think about his own demise, but he knew deep down it was true. But he also knew that the other side of that was true, that she was the one that saved him. He really didn’t expect to make a friend ever after the hell he was put through at his own school, but Sumire was truly a special case. No matter how many times he thought through it, it never made sense. Why would she even bother with him? So many others didn’t, including and especially those he considered his friends.

‘And then there’s those two blondes… Maybe my opinion on people is too low. Or maybe people here are put through similar shit. Probably both, now that I’m thinking about it.’ Akira shook his head as he exited the now stopped train and immediately his body went into auto pilot as he made his way upwards. ‘Ryuji had to deal with being the one that effectively ended the Track team while Ann had all those rumors about her and Kamoshida. The four of us aren’t so different, I guess, but neither of those two are Sumire. She’s honestly incredible.’

Just before Akira’s smile could begin growing even larger, he shook his head. He could think about that later, because the person that seemingly always found her way back into his mind was right in front of him.

“Senpai!” Sumire called out, waving her hand vigorously as their eyes met. Wading his way through the sea of people, Akira eventually pushed through them all to make it to the redhead, who was wearing a black skirt along with a black jacket with yellow outlining over a simple black shirt. She was beaming, her smile covering her entire face from ear to ear and her red eyes sparkling underneath her glasses. “You look better today, Senpai!”

“Turns out the body heals faster than you think,” Akira replied before pulling out his phone. “Did everything go well yesterday?”

“Mhm! I… was able to apologize to Kasumi, and was even able to tell her about you!” Sumire excitedly exclaimed. “Oh, um… That text you sent yesterday really helped, Senpai. Thank you.”

“I’m happy for you, Sumire. I don’t think I would’ve been able to do that,” Akira replied.

“That’s not true.”

“Hm?” Akira raised an eyebrow, staring back into Sumire’s red eyes as her determined gaze pushed back against his.

“You’re a lot stronger than me, Senpai. I… wanted to give up before I saw that text, but afterwards I was able to face my fears. So… thank you again.”

“It really wasn’t anything,” Akira muttered. He found Sumire’s thankful gaze hard to meet as he scratched the back of his neck, and he chose to change the conversation. “Anyways, we’re meeting with those today, yeah?” Akira pulled out his phone as Sumire’s face lit up again as she nodded excitedly. “It isn’t that far away. Wilton Buffet, huh?”

“I’m so excited, Senpai!” Sumire bounced at Akira’s side as he began walking, the mood lightening immediately as he set his Maps app towards the buffet before he slipped the device back into his pocket. “What food do you think they’ll have?”

“I don’t know. If it’s anything like I expect, they’ll probably have fish there.”

“Fish?!” Akira heard Morgana shout from his bag, and he made eye contact with Sumire as she suddenly looked over at him.

“Morgana-san?”

Akira let out a sigh and, with one swift motion, unzipped his bag enough for Morgana to poke his head out.

“Freedom!”

“Morgana, be quiet,” Akira said, letting out a sigh as he turned his attention forward once again. “I’ll get you something when you’re there, but you’re staying in the bag. I don’t want you to get us thrown out.”

“G-Got it!” Just as quickly as Morgana popped out, he dove back into the brown bag, and Akira looked over to see Sumire giggling next to him.

“You’ve changed, Senpai.”

“Hm? How so?”

“You used to yell at Morgana-san all the time to be quiet, only in a much ruder manner. In fact, I’m the only one you haven’t yelled at like that.”

“That’s not true. I was pretty terrible to you when we first met,” Akira commented. His body was at ease as he and Sumire walked side by side. Akira would have never imagined he could have ever reached this point ever again, chatting normally with a friend, but here he was.

“I understand why you did though. And remember, I also tried to push you away,” Sumire replied, her happy smile spreading onto Akira’s face as she stared up at him. 

“I guess we just needed each other, huh?” To Akira’s surprise, Sumire stopped in her tracks. As he stopped and turned himself, he inwardly sighed upon seeing Sumire’s reddened cheeks. “You help me and I’ll do my best to help you; that’s how we operate.”  
“R-Right!” Sumire vigorously nodded her head, snapping out of the daze she seemed to be in a moment prior and bounding to Akira’s side before he resumed his own gait. “S-Sorry about that, Senpai.”

“All good,” Akira responded, waving the apology away as he pulled out his phone again. “We’re getting closer.”

In fact, the Wilton Buffet was down the block from them, Akira noted, and as he slipped his phone back into his pocket he could see two familiar heads of blonde hair standing in front of the buffet and hotel combo.

“Yo, there you two are!” Ryuji called out, raising his hand as Akira and Sumire approached.

“Hey, don’t forget me!” Morgana exclaimed as he popped out of Akira’s bag.

“Didn’t think Akira would have let you in his bag for this. Are animals even allowed inside?” Ryuji asked.

“I am not an animal!” Morgana shouted back, but Akira’s glare was all it took to make him slink back into the bag.

“I was just telling him that, but Senpai has gotten a lot nicer the past few days,” Sumire excitedly said, and Akira shook his head before turning towards Ann.

“We should head inside. Didn’t you say we only have a limited time, Ann?” He asked the blonde haired girl who immediately got her phone out.

“Mhm! Our time slot is from four to five pm, so we’re fine!” Ann replied just as excitedly as the other two.

“Alright, let’s head in then.” Leading the group in with Morgana tucking his head back into the bag, Akira gave over the money after the woman at the front counter asked and she led them towards their table.

“Here you are. Enjoy yourselves,” the woman said, and Akira could hear the strain in her voice along with the almost disapproving frown on her face. But he nodded, the two girls behind him thanking the woman, before taking a seat on the couch. The rest of the group did the same, Ryuji taking one of the chairs on the end of the oval shaped table while Ann sat right beside Akira opposite of where Morgana was, leaving a final chair for Sumire to sit in. However, as Akira got situated, he noticed that Sumire was still standing and in fact staring right at him with a pout on her face.

“What’s wrong, Sumire?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as her cheeks immediately flared up.

“U-Um… I-I was w-wondering if I could sit next to Akira-senpai, Ann-senpai…” Sumire muttered, and Ann perked up.

“Uh… Sure? I don’t mind where I sit,” Ann responded as she got up and moved towards the last remaining chair open. As she did so, Akira could barely keep his eyes on Sumire as she darted around the table and plopped onto the now free spot next to him. A happy smile adorned her face along with her ever intensifying blush, only making Akira more confused. But his confusion didn’t last for very long as he shook his head. She was happy, that’s all that mattered.

“That smell is amazing…” Ann said, her eyes closing in pure bliss as Akira saw her stick her nose upwards.

“Right? I can’t wait to dig into that meat up there!” Ryuji exclaimed, and Akira could see the excitement within his eyes just at a glance.

“Oh, by the way, I heard the police are coming to interview some people at school.” Ann still had her look of bliss on her face, but Akira perked up slightly and leaned forward as Morgana poked his head out of his bag.

“That’s troublesome,” he stated, and Akira nodded in response as his face sharpened.

“I’m sure it’ll be okay, Senpai!” Sumire exclaimed, and Akira felt the sudden weight put onto him disappear as he caught her optimistic gaze. 

“Hopefully, but our names are definitely going to come up for sure. Your twos specifically, I’d bet, cause there’s already some rumors bein’ spread about you two and Kamoshida.” Akira’s normal gaze turned dark as Sumire’s bright face broke slightly and turned his head enough to shoot a glare over at the blonde. Ryuji seemed to understand what that meant as he gulped, and Akira returned his eyes back onto Sumire.

“Keep your heads low and play dumb if anyone approaches you about it,” Akira stated simply. “Sumire and I dealt with those rumors early by doing exactly that.”

“But we got ‘em pumped up!” Ryuji continued on, seemingly ignoring Akira as the teen let out a sigh. “People’re saying stuff like ‘They really stole his heart!’ Most of ‘em probably don’t believe it, but some actually seem grateful. Look at this.”

Suddenly, Akira was staring at Ryuji’s phone, a website pulled up with a simple black and white design with big text written all across it.

“The Phantom Aficionado Website? Who would have created something like that, Senpai?” Sumire asked, and Akira only shrugged as he continued staring at the phone. “‘Now I can keep going too’... ‘Thank you for giving us hope’... These people do seem grateful for us!”

“I know, right?” Ryuji exclaimed, tucking his phone back into his purple jacket. 

“I was so focused on dealing with my own problems, but seeing all those people say that feels… strange,” Ann chimed in, a happy smile on her face, and Akira turned towards Ryuji as the blonde looked excitedly over at him.

“What about you? What do you think?”

“Are we going to eat?”

Three loud growls came from all around the table and the two blondes shot to their feet. “Oh crap! We only have a limited time, right?!” Ryuji nearly shouted.

“Yeah, we only have an hour!” Ann responded just as loudly. Akira let out a loud sigh but stopped short of shaking his head as he heard a giggle from his left. He looked over to see Sumire’s face lit up in glee and, before he knew it, her eyes were locked onto his as her grin nearly spread onto his face.

“Let’s go, Senpai!” 

Akira briefly stared in mild shock at the redhead before a small chuckle escaped from him and he pushed himself off the table. “Yeah.”

“Man… I was gonna say you three watch our stuff, but… Ah, it’ll be fine. Let’s go!” Both blondes raced past Akira and Sumire, Ryuji heading straight for the table full of different meats while Ann beelined for the dessert table.

“Hey, you’re bringing me along as well, right?” Morgana yelped as Akira began to move and, without a word, Akira picked up the bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Not so rou- Right, quiet, sorry…”

Akira huffed as he blinked away the glare he shot through Morgana.

“What should we get first?” Finding himself calming down instantly as Sumire bounced right next to him, Akira shrugged as he grabbed a plate with Sumire doing the same.

“Let’s go grab some fish first,” Akira replied, and the two quickly maneuvered their way through some stuffy looking people to reach the table designated to fish. Side by side, Akira and Sumire grabbed a little of each type of fish while leaving room for the other types of food still around them. However, as Akira was about to turn back around, two people conversing on the other side of the table caught his attention.

“Have you heard, my dear? The news about that Kamoshida fellow was absolutely dreadful,” the first woman said, though the look in her eyes told Akira that she was painfully arrogant.

“Ah, right. That teacher at Shujin Academy, caught doing such indecent acts. Shameful, really,” the other woman replied, and Akira already found himself regretting his decision to listen in. 

‘Indecent is an understatement,’ Akira thought. Already having heard enough on top of Sumire staring confusedly at him, her head tilted to the side with her red locks falling to that same side. “Let’s keep going.”

“Right!”

Akira led Sumire to the table over, the smile on her face settling his nerves as they stopped in front of the large pile of desserts. “Akira-senpai, I didn’t think you would like sweets.”

“I don’t, but might as well get everything I can while we’re here,” Akira replied, reaching for a good amount of everything on the table with Sumire doing the same right next to him.

“News travels quick. It’s all over the internet. You know, the story about how Kamoshida got his ass kicked by some world-reforming heroes…” 

Akira glanced over Sumire to see two wealthy people, a man and a woman, speaking loudly.

“It doesn’t sound like a serious story to me. Some of the details are pretty far-fetched,” the woman responded, and Akira had to hold the scoff building within himself back as he turned around.

‘We beat Kamoshida, so what those morons think doesn’t matter…’

“Senpai, are you okay?” Sumire asked as the two stopped in front of the meat table.

“Yeah, keep getting distracted,” Akira replied, grabbing as much meat as his plate would allow while saving some room for the rice.

“By the people talking around us? I’ve been listening too, and…”

“...When you look at it, he’s just an ex-athlete who overestimated himself. He should have just accepted his lot in life and quietly done his job as a teacher. It’s not even an incident we can take seriously. The whole story is pretty ridiculous.”

“Tch…” Akira turned to his left to find the rice table right there with Sumire doing the same right beside him.

“Who let those two in here?”  
“I hope they didn’t bring another of them. I prefer my meal hooligan-free.”

“Just look at their attire!”

Akira’s eyes glazed over as he grabbed all the rice he could, pushing the tongs forcefully back into their container before beginning to turn back around. All these people were the same; idiotic and self absorbed. But, as he turned to his left to go back to their table, Akira found himself calm, his mind clear, as Sumire beamed up at him. Her face was almost as bright as the sun, and suddenly all the irritation that had built within him was gone.

“Let’s go, Senpai.”

“Agreed.”

With two rumbles coming from the teens’ guts, Sumire led the way back towards their table where Ann and Ryuji were already chowing down on their food.

“Mm… So good!” Ann exclaimed through a mouthful of what Akira assumed to be cake considering the plate full of the rich dessert in her hand.

“God, it’s like a meaty explosion in my mouth!” Ryuji also spoke excitedly, his plate piled high with ham, bacon; everything from the meat table. Akira allowed Sumire to sit down first before sliding in right beside her, setting Morgana down and opening the zipper before turning his attention onto his fairly full plate. “Damn, you two brought a ton back! You especially, Sumire!”

“I do eat a lot, but I’ll burn it off at practice! Senpai said this earlier, might as well get as much as I can while we’re here!” Sumire happily bounced on the couch. Despite her getting his exact words wrong, Akira let it slide as a small grin form on his face. It really was a long shot to even guess that the two of them would end up eating at such a fancy restaurant, but if that’s what life was going to give him, he wouldn’t complain. 

‘It’s a change of pace compared to what I’m used to,’ Akira scoffed internally, picking up his utensils and sliding the side plate of fish over towards Morgana. 

“Akira!” Morgana exclaimed and, this time, Akira allowed the cat off easy. He could see the sparkle within everyone’s eyes around the table, their faces stress free and happy, but Akira couldn’t help but keep his focus on Sumire. She was eating much slower than what Akira was used to seeing, but it didn’t look like she was embarrassed or anything of the sort. No, instead she looked to be in pure heaven, savoring every bite she took before going onto the next.

“Senpai, you need to eat too!” Sumire reprimanded Akira, catching him off guard as their gazes connected. “It would be a shame for all that food to go to waste!”

“I grabbed what I’m comfortable with,” Akira replied with a small smile on his face, only big enough for Sumire to see it, and he was rewarded as her already beaming face grew brighter. “Them, on the other hand...”

“Ohhhh shit, too much meat…”

“So… So much cake…”

Akira allowed his barely detectable smile to grow as he began to slowly and deliberately pick away at his plate. Each bite felt like a palette cleanser, filling every corner of his mouth as he closed his eyes. Any kind of relaxation was rare for him, especially with a close friend, so Akira made sure to bask in every second of it as he continued whittling away at his food. In what felt like no time at all, his plate was completely empty as his fork touched porcelain, and Akira let out an utterly satisfied sigh as he leaned back and opened his eyes. 

“You guys aren’t done yet?” He asked, his eyebrows raising as he looked between Ann and Ryuji.

“Dude, how… Oh god… How do you expect me to finish this all?!” Ryuji retorted, not without sneaking in a large burp in the middle.

“You might have to help him, Akira,” Ann chimed in, still enjoying her desserts in peace.

“I might go up to get seconds, Senpai,” Sumire said, already getting up with her plate completely wiped clean. While Akira was able to mask his surprise, the other three did not find the same ability.

“Holy shit…” Morgana uttered.

“Sounds good, Sumire,” Akira replied nonchalantly, and Sumire walked off with a happy smile on her face. 

“Shit… How can she do that? I’m nearly burstin’ over here while she has more food than me and is still hungry!” Ryuji moaned, rubbing his gut as he sat back in his chat.

“That’s normal for her.” Reaching over, Akira grabbed a small chunk of meat from the still tall pile Ryuji had in front of him.

“Shit, you’re really helpin’ me out? Thanks man!”

“Don’t mention it.”

“I’ll help out too!

As the three guys attempted to finish the mountain meat, Sumire returned with her second plate, just as full as the first with a lot of everything on it. Akira actually wasn’t feeling all that full either. He knew his limits coming in and, even while eating parts of Ryuji’s meal, his stomach could clearly take more.

“We… We actually did it…” Ryuji groaned, his plate finally empty, and Akira smirked as Sumire set down her plate at the same time.

“Nice work, you three! You make a great team!” Ann exclaimed, setting her own plate down on the now cluttered table.

“Mhm!” Sumire nodded excitedly in agreement.

“Thanks… We only got through it… Cause we did it together…” Ryuji let out another meaty burp, his face clearly pale as his hand shot to his mouth.

“Yeah.”

“Dude, can’t you pretend to be sick?” Ryuji asked, turning towards Akira and Sumire. “Seriously, it’s like your two’s stomachs are made of steel or somethin’... Oh shit, I gotta go to the bathroom…”

“Me too… Please carry me gently…” Morgana added, and Akira sighed as he reached for his bag.

“My, look at that table…” Akira perked up and turned his head to see a middle aged woman and man staring right at the group.

“Come now, pay them no attention. I’m sure they must not normally have the chance to eat such exquisite food,” the man responded, and Akira felt his gaze sharpen as he stared at the two.

“I can only imagine what their parents must be like…”

Akira’s spine chilled, and death reached his eyes as he nearly got to his feet. However, he felt a slender hand on his arm and he let out a sigh. Sumire’s gaze instantly broke him out of his anger, but it didn’t stop Ryuji as he lunged forward in his chair.

“What was that?” He shouted before his face paled even further. “...Urp! We don’t have time for that. C’mon, let’s go…”

“I’ll wait here, Senpai.”

Nodding, Akira moved to his feet and followed Ryuji towards the bathrooms.

“Ugh, I’m stuffed…” Morgana complained as Akira and Ryuji stopped in front of the elevators again.

“I totally panicked when I saw the “Closed for cleaning” sign at the bathrooms… Luckily these ones were open, but it was close,” Ryuji sighed.

“That’s what you get for eating only meat…”

“Same for you! You only ate fish down there!” Ryuji retorted before looking back at the elevator. “What floor was that restaurant on?”

“It’s beneath us,” Akira interjected as he pressed the down arrow in between the elevators before backing up again. The wait wasn’t that long when they had called the elevator to go up, but Akira was already on edge; he was completely out of his element her–

A wave of nausea hit Akira like a brick wall as he was shoved out of the way, his weakened body barely able to stay up as he steadied himself. However, the gut wrenching feeling spread all throughout Akira’s body as his vision nearly went black and a loud high pitched noise filled his brain.

“Th...e’s sti...l no upd...te on the ca...e?”

Akira wasn’t sure how many people were in front of him. Four? Five? More? His eyes wavered; the more he tried to focus, the sicker he felt. ‘That voice… That man…’

A plain looking businessman approached the bald one, but Akira could barely see them. His mind was splitting, burning. It was as if he accepted hell itself into his brain, releasing all the demons to wreak havoc on his already vulnerable mental state. 

Ryuji was pushed back, the man in the center beckoned everyone, then they left. Everything was a blur for Akira. He thought that Morgana and Ryuji called out to him, but his body moved on it’s own as another elevator was called. Everything hurt, from his mind to his body. The phantom spikes that returned to torment him from time to time dug into his flesh, a clear searing pain being fired all throughout his body, but Akira didn’t let out any cry of pain.

‘Who was that? It… No, he’s not.’

Blood was drawn from his palms, sweat covered his face; it felt like Akira was lost in an impossibly thick fog. His surroundings were dull and grey, his eyes only seeing a very small radius around him as his legs worked on their own. 

**_Do you truly not recognize him?_ **

**_If you don’t, that is alright._ **

**_Perhaps it will make you stronger if you do not for the moment._ **

**_However, hold onto this feeling._ **

**_Let it fester within you._ **

**_I shall be waiting for you again, Akira._ **

“Se…ai! Senpai!”

While it did not go away all at once, the pain and agony plaguing Akira’s body began seeping from his body, leaving from the top of his head and from the bottom of his feet. The black curtain that was covering his view of the world began lifting, the saturation of the well furnished restaurant returning as well. Akira felt the wetness on his fingertips along with the sharp pain from the center of his palms and he blinked slowly. He was back, in front of the table, with Sumire staring up at him. Her red orbs were wide open and watery with two streaks of liquid flowing down her cheeks. She opened her mouth again when Akira took a deep breath in. Then he released it all, allowing any of the remaining pain, the anguish that had affected his body to disperse.

“Senpai, are… are you okay?” Sumire immediately questioned as Akira returned his gaze onto her. Worry was etched onto her face, her eyes puffy and reddened where they weren’t supposed to be.

“I… I don’t know…” Akira responded truthfully as he was led by Sumire to his seat.

“Jeez… Can’t you at least tell us when you're about to go all dark and brooding on us?” Ryuji asked, an almost incredulous tone to his voice, but Akira lowered his gaze towards the table. He could still feel the pain leaving his body, but… there was something else with that pain. A feeling he knew too much about: hatred. 

“Senpai…”

Akira straightened up immediately at the sound of Sumire’s voice. He heard the desperation, the fear, the concern mixed in her voice as well as saw them written all across her face as she saw down right next to him. For some reason, seeing her like that, worried about him, made Akira feel lighter. He didn’t need to worry about that; he needed to focus on what was directly ahead of him.

“I’m alright, Sumire. Sorry about that.” Akira stared deep into Sumire’s eyes, forcing all the assurance he had into his own grey eyes, and thankfully Sumire nodded after a brief moment of silence.

“I-If you say so…”

“So… You’re all good?” Ryuji asked hesitantly, and Akira nodded towards the blond. “Alright, cool. Glad to hear it, man.”

“Oh right, I was about to ask why you guys were so late when Akira… Well, why did it take you guys so long?” Ann was slightly irritated as she shot the question over at Ryuji while Akira moved his gaze back onto the table. He was happy that Sumire was right next to him; whenever she was nearby he felt his mind clear, even when it actively worked against him. 

“Why’re you all pissy? We just got caught up by a bunch of jackasses upstairs and Akira went all silent on me and Morgana,” Ryuji fired back, and Akira closed his eyes.

“S-Sorry, just… Some lady bumped into me and dropped her plate, but then she blamed me and said it was all my fault.”

“Sounds like a real bitch…” 

“Yeah… Thanks though,” Ann said as she looked up and gave Ryuji a small smile before falling again.

“But… everyone around looked at me with this disapproving expression… I wonder if we’re out of place…”

Everyone’s faces shot up as Akira let out a cold chuckle, and a similarly dead grin worked its way onto his face as his eyes reopened and he leaned back. “It’s always like this.”

“Mhm...” Sumire uttered, and immediately Akira felt a pang of regret. Sumire’s face lowered and her hands went to her skirt, one of her many nervous ticks that Akira had picked up as they continued hanging out. 

“Hey Morgana,” Ryuji started.

“Yeah?” Morgana popped his head out of Akira’s bag, gaining everyone’s attention as Akira’s guilt passed as soon as it came.

“Anyone could have a palace, yeah?”  
“Anyone with a strong, distorted desire, yes.”

Ryuji leaned forward on his thighs. “Same for them having a change of heart if their Treasure gets stolen?”

Morgana nodded. “That would be the case.”

“Why’re you bringing this up suddenly, Ryuji?” Ann asked, but Akira already knew his answer.

“You want us to continue being Phantom Thieves?” Akira stated more as a fact than a question and turned his gaze solely on Ryuji.

“I mean… yeah. People’re thanking us… Us, of all people, for changin’ Kamoshida’s heart. We actually made a difference back there and improved the lives of people who had no other choice but to deal with it.”

“There were a lot of people affected by his actions…” Sumire said, his face downcast.

“Yeah… Now that I have that power, if I ignore people in need I’d go back to being the same as I was before…” Ann said, her face also downcast when Ryuji made eye contact with Akira again.

“What do you think?”

“No.”

“What?!” Ryuji nearly shouted out, but Akira put up his hand before he could argue any further.

“I only changed Kamoshida’s heart to help myself and Sumire. Everything else just fell into place.”

“But you also helped us!” Ann exclaimed, gaining Akira’s gaze as she nearly instantly backed off.

“That wasn’t my intention. And besides, I’m not risking my life anymore for people I don’t know.”

“Senpai…”

‘God dammit…’ Akira internally groaned. He _knew_ this was coming, but nothing could have prepared him for the pleading look on Sumire’s face as she stared up at him. It was overwhelming and Akira couldn’t ignore it as his eyes seemed to only focus on Sumire.

“I… I think Ryuji-senpai and Ann-senpai are right. We can help a lot of people doing this. And… And I don’t believe you were doing it just for us two. You allowed those two to say the final piece to Kamoshida’s Shadow, right? I think… no, I know that that shows that you do care,” Sumire paused, turning her full body towards Akira as he could only watch, his already weak determination trembling under Sumire’s pleading gaze. “So please, Senpai, do this. I want to join as well.”

“I really can’t win… ” Akira grumbled, hoping that no one heard that before letting out a cough. He saw three confused faces as he looked back up and sighed. “Fine, I’ll join.”

“You guys have been and are under my tutelage and are filled with promise! There’s nothing we can’t accomplish as Phantom Thieves!” Morgana exclaimed from the bag, but Akira was fixated on the even brighter look etched onto Sumire's face as she nearly bounced up and down in excitement.

“Senpai, are you okay being the leader?” Sumire asked as she began to calm down, and again Akira felt himself under the immense pressure of her pleading eyes. He didn’t have a choice in the matter.

“Yeah,” Akira nodded, being rewarded with the twinkle in Sumire’s eyes as the rest of her face lit up. ‘It’s fine… She’s happy, so I can’t complain.’

“Fine by me. I can’t handle that sort of responsibility,” Ryuji said with Ann nodding vigorously.

“Same here.”

“What about my decision? Oh well, if Lady Ann agrees with it then I will too,” Morgana finished with a small smirk.

“We’re sticking with Phantom Thieves of Hearts for the name,” Akira stated, leaving no room for debate as he crossed his legs. “As for targets…”

“Why not just stick to big names?” Ryuji asked.

“Like a celebrity?” Sumire followed up.

“Yeah, that sounds good! There’s gotta be plenty of dirt bags out there, and then we’ll get even more famous!”

“Not a bad idea… For you, Ryuji,” Morgana snickered.

“It would also give a lot of people the courage they need,” Ann added on.

“I don’t think it should be just a random person, though,” Sumire interjected, all eyes on her as she stared up at Akira. “We should all have to agree on a target, Senpai.”

“Agreed,” Akira nodded, a small smile on his face as he looked down at Sumire. Her face was practically radiating with happiness, and Akira couldn’t shake off the smile growing on his own. “Our hideout on the rooftop will work for now, and we’ll meet only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”

“Senpai, you don’t have to wait for m–”

“Yes, I do. If this is a team, we’re not going in with a person missing,” Akira stated simply, but four shocked faces stared at him in awe as he sipped his coffee. ‘I really have changed in the past month… Not that that’s a bad thing. No… I actually like this feeling.’

“Aww… Our time ran out…” Ann sighed, snapping Akira out of his thoughts.

“Guess we’ll just have to meet up later then. Ah man, we got school tomorrow…”

Akira slowly got up from his seat, slinging the Morgana bag over his shoulder just as Sumire also stood up. “Do you want to walk together?”

“Mhm!”

Holding up his hand, Akira waved back at the two blondes as he and Sumire made their way back to the Central Square and, parting ways there, Akira made it back to Leblanc. The rest of the evening was uneventful, with Akira doing the dishes for Sojiro, until he covered up and felt his eyes shut immediately.

“Ah, there’s the Prisoner. Right on time.”

Akira groaned as he got to his feet, the familiar chains clattering all around him and the distinct taste of metal in the air telling him exactly where he was before his eyes were allowed time to adjust.

“First off… I’d like to begin by congratulating you. You have encountered allies who share your ideals, and you have begun to find your place in reality. There is also this person that continues to amaze me, the bond you two share specifically.”

“You mean Sumire, yeah?” Akira asked casually. Over time, he had grown to accept the coldness of the Velvet Room, the threatening aura of the room keeping him alert as he stared directly at Igor.

“Indeed I am,” Igor chuckled, nodding his head before continuing. “I am positive you wish to know more on what that aura was that encompassed you after your fight with the Demon of Lust. Would that be correct?”

“Yeah.”

“You have become acquainted with bonds and the Arcana that represent those bonds, yes?”

Another nod from Akira.

“Each Arcana has its own special property to it, their own unique bonuses that will aid in your rehabilitation. This girl you have forged this unusual bond with is represented by the Faith Arcana, one that is not part of the Major Arcana. I have explained this before, but I shall use this moment to refresh your memory and perhaps expand your knowledge. It possesses an immense amount of potential due to it’s unusual existence, and it manifested in that power that healed your body and mind. However, it is unrefined, only able to do so much for you.”

“Don’t you understand?! It’s because you’re not close enough with her!” Caroline shouted, slamming her baton onto the metal bars.

“Our master is saying that you must deepen your bond with her if you wish this power to grow,” Justine added.

“Onto the next order of business,” Igor said, regaining Akira’s attention. “I do not wish to alarm you, but the power you possess is deadlier than I had anticipated. Upon revisiting this matter, it appears that, while your body is healing and will make a full recovery, the spikes that entered your body will continue to go deeper upon each successive use of this furious ability.”

“So that means…” Akira trailed off, his entire body shaking.

“You will die if you use it too many times, Inmate,” Justine stated plainly.

“We don’t know how many times that is, though, so be careful out there!” Caroline exclaimed.

“It also seems like this power has an additional ability that can even affect those in reality,” Igor continued, Akira’s eyes widening as he leaned further towards Igor. “It appears that, along with your dark armor, the ability to render a target completely motionless with terror awakened from your broken soul. I do not know much about this, though even as you reversed the course of that power, your victim was still scarred. That is why terror entered his eyes when he witnessed you in reality.”

Akira stared blankly at Igor. ‘So it was because of me… And if I didn’t reverse it then he would have stayed like that. What is this power?’ Eyes moving to his hands, Akira tried to look inwards, to feel for that dark power. It was faint, buried deep within himself, and he could barely focus on it for long before his mind went towards his Personas.

“Other than those three matters, I do not believe there is anything pressing at the immediate moment,” Igor chuckled, gaining Akira’s gaze once again.” You have forged new bonds, and I shall watch with great candor to see if you shall forge more. It truly does seem like the rehabilitation is going well. This is a joyous occasion. However, our time has passed, but I will depart upon you one final gift.”

As Akira’s eyes began falling while the alarm in the Velvet Room blared, he felt his mind open. He could see all his Personas; well, all except one. Phoenix was nowhere to be seen, but Akira did not have time to focus on that as his legs gave out.

“Oh, perhaps I should mention this last thing of note. You may have awakened to a new Persona during your conquest against Lust, but it remains to be far too powerful for you. Perhaps in the future you will be able to fully handle it, but for now it cannot remain within you for long. Goodbye, Prisoner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who would have thought I would update again so quickly? Definitely not I, but here we are. I don't want to alarm any of you, but I feel like the fire for writing *may* be back, but we will just have to wait and see. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and see you all again soon!


	20. Reaffirming Faith

“Like you heard last week, gym class is canceled today. Instead, I’m supposed to give you some guida…”

Even though Kawakami’s voice reached his ears, Akira couldn’t bother to pay attention. It was the day after the creation of the Phantom Thieves, and his mind had been working ever since he woke up. ‘Phantom Thieves… Kamoshida… How the hell did I get caught up in all of this?’ He thought to himself, his blank stare directed out the window. ‘It’s all because of Sumire, I know that. Just… I can’t seem to get my mind away from her for very long. Not that that’s a bad thing, but… I was betrayed once.’

_“We ain’t friends anymore, dude.”_

_“Stay away!”_

_“You’re different, now.”_

“They say that humans have several different personalities hidden in their subconscious.”

Akira perked up slightly as Kawakami’s voice snapped him from his thoughts, loosening his fists as he let out the breath he was holding.

“Oh, to be clear, I’m not talking about multiple personality disorder,” she continued on. “These different personalities can be a different gender or a different age from you. I mean, if you think about how gods and monsters in myths were first based on the human image… If you actually saw one of those personalities with your own eyes, it might look like a monster.”

‘A monster, huh? That’s not that far off,’ Akira thought, returning his gaze to the window as his mind returned to the person who he was seemingly always thinking about. ‘Sumire’s different from everyone else, even Ryuji and Ann. I… I can’t force myself to be wary around her. With the others I don’t feel the same sort of trust; I don’t think I’ll ever get to that point. In an instant everything can change, I know that better than anyone else…’

_“Why did you become a criminal? It doesn’t make sense!”_

_“It doesn’t make sense because I’m not! Just believe in me!”_

_“No… No, I can’t. Not after hearing what you’ve done.”_

“Kurusu-kun, please pay attention.”

Turning back towards Kawakami, Akira let out a small, irritated sigh before his eyes glazed over once again. The other students around him were speaking and whispering but he didn’t hear them, or at least didn’t register what they were saying.

‘Dammit…’

* * *

_“I thought he was kinda cute, didn’t you?”_

_“Are you kidding? He’s a criminal!”_

‘Get out of my head!’ Akira roared internally, managing to keep his face steady as he stared down at his food.

“You know that Phantom Thieves rumor about stealing Kamoshida’s heart? I wonder if it’s true.”

“It’s got to be made up. Do you seriously believe they exist?”

“But look at what happened to Kamoshida.”

“He probably just couldn’t keep hiding it after that girl tried to kill herself.”

“Yeah, you might be ri…”

Akira simply shook his head, an action that he hoped was imperceptible to those around him, and for the most part it was. All except...

“Senpai? What’s wrong?”

Looking up, he took a deep breath as he met Sumire’s gaze. The bubbling irritation that had begun building within his head dispersed as he stared through Sumire’s glasses and into her ruby eyes, and he shook his head again. “Nothing, just heard something.”

“People talking about the Phantom Thieves?” Sumire asked, and Akira nodded. He was painfully aware of the large number of students in the cafeteria, but not many of them seemed to be paying them much attention.

“Yeah.”

“It bothers me as wel- Oh right!” Sumire perked up as Akira sharpened his gaze. He caught a few students stealing glances towards him and Sumire, but simply running his glare over them was more than enough for them to look hurriedly away. “You… You said that people are always listening, right? Sorry, Senpai.”

“It’s alright,” Akira waved dismissively in front of himself as he pushed himself up from the table. “No one pays us much mind anyways. They don’t want to get near me.”

“Senpai…” Glancing down, Akira’s eye twitched slightly. He was met with Sumire’s pleading gaze, the red eyes screaming at him to stop saying stuff like that, and he quickly relinquished a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck

“...Anyways, we should get going,” Akira said as he let his arm fall back down.“There’s not much time left in the period. I’ll walk with you back up to your class.”

“Okay.” 

“Has anyone tried messing with you? When I’m not around, I mean.” As he uttered the last word, Akira was met with a smiling Sumire standing in front of him as she shook her head. It still felt weird seeing her mood shift so rapidly; it almost felt like whiplash, but Akira pushed that feeling out of the way as he stared down at her.

“Nope!” Sumire exclaimed, and strangely Akira’s heart jumped slightly as Sumire beamed upwards, her glasses magnifying the sheer thankfulness in her ruby eyes. “All they do is give me weird looks, but… I think just knowing that we’re friends is enough for them to steer clear of me.”

“Good.” Trying his damndest to ignore the strange and foreign feeling as light as a feather in his chest, Akira turned towards the exit of the cafeteria. “I’ll make sure it stays that way.” 

Akira felt Sumire right behind him as he began to move forward, turning down the hall and towards the stairs. It didn’t take her long to catch up and match his gait, and he couldn’t resist the sudden and overwhelming pull of his eyes down towards her. The feeling that had taken root inside his heart only grew, albeit by a slight amount, as he saw a full and happy smile stretched across her bright face. However, rapid blinks helped him concentrate ahead of him, and the sudden approach of two pairs of footsteps from his left gave a perfect excuse to rip his eyes off of her. 

“Hey, there you two are! Where have you been?” 

“Cafeteria,” Akira replied dryly to the blond, Ann right next to him as the four Thieves gathered right beside the stairwell.

“Really? Why?”

_“You’re nothing to us, Akira.”_

_“Yeah, forget all about hanging out with us from now on.”_

“To eat.”

Ryuji’s eyes narrowed, but Akira kept his steady as he stared back at the dumbfounded teen. He just wanted to forget, to leave that life behind.

“Mhm,” Sumire nodded, and once again Akira found his eyes being dragged over to her. Most times he would try to fight back, but in the moment he was eager to free his mind.

“Didn’t expect you to go there during lunch, but whatever,” Ryuji shook his head, pulling Akira’s attention back onto him. “Did you see that the Phantom Aficionado Website has been gettin’ more postings?” Ryuji looked excitedly down at his phone as he tapped a few times before it dropped into an annoyed frown. “‘I wanna make my friend apologize for not returning the stuff I lent him.’ Ugh, deal with that yourself!”

“Ryuji-senpai, don’t you think you should be a little quieter?” Sumire asked, and her and Akira’s eyes met as he nodded his head slightly at her. He expected the annoying feeling to reemerge, but the serious look in Sumire’s eyes somehow managed to keep it at bay as he nodded curtly again.

“Why?”

Akira groaned internally; did he really not get it? Turning back to Ryuji, the pain within Akira’s mind deepened as he set his eyes on the clueless blond.

“People are always listening,” Akira said, his voice cold as he stared into the blond’s eyes. “Be smart about this, or you’ll cause more trouble for all of us.” As Ryuji was opening his mouth to respond, Akira turned towards Sumire and met her concerned gaze. “Talk about it later, not now. Let’s go, Sumire.”

“Okay.” Her soft footsteps were right behind Akira as he made his way past the two blondes. It was then, within the silence, that he finally felt the slight but constant thumping in his head.

_“Leave us alone!”_

_“Seriously! Not even your parents want you around!”_

He had to grit his teeth, his every step becoming harsher and heavier as his shoulders tensed. ‘Why can’t it just go away already? Dammit…’

“Senpai, what’s wrong?”

Akira’s body released some tension at her soft question, his mind easing as he shook his head. At least Sumire was there to always pull him out… But… would she really?

“Nothing.”

“Are… Are you sure?”

Akira’s eyebrows raised as he looked over at Sumire, the two reaching the third floor and stopping at the top of the stairs. She was looking up at him, her eyes widened and filled with the pleading look that Akira had hoped he had gotten used to at this point. However, it was clear that he wasn’t as his scowl broke down quickly into something much softer and he looked down at the redhead. “What does that mean?”

“Um… Well…” Sumire instantly began playing with her skirt, her eyes darting from side to side, and Akira found that his headache was pushed out of focus as his attention was placed solely on his nervous friend. “I… I just want you to be okay, Senpai…” She eventually said, her voice barely above a whisper. Akira glanced around the hallway; people were beginning to gather around them, their eyes glued onto the two, and he let out a sigh as his hand twitched slightly.

“Meet on the roof after school, okay?”

“Okay…”

“See you then, Sumire.” Akira turned away from Sumire and towards the staircase, taking one final glance backwards to see her slowly walking towards her classroom. Her form was shaking slightly, and Akira grit his teeth before forcing his eyes back to the staircase with a rough shake of his head. ‘I can’t do anything more, not with those morons watching…’

As he made his way back to his classroom, the dull fire within his mind returned. However, Akira barely paid it any attention as his focus was on Sumire from that point forward. Part of him wanted to heal solely so she wouldn’t worry about him any longer. Of course he wanted to rid himself of the lethargy and pain still lingering in his body and mind for his own benefit, but something about having someone else worry about him was… exhausting. Seeing Sumire’s eyes filled with that much concern… It was something he hadn’t experienced in a long while, especially not over this length of time.

_“No one cares, dude. You’re a criminal.”_

_“Nothing but scum.”_

_“Tricked us all.”_

Akira shook his head lightly in an attempt to free his mind of those thoughts, but it only intensified the constant pain and he let out a groan as he lowered himself into his seat. Returning his gaze back outside, his head firmly placed onto his hand, Akira’s mind continued to linger on Sumire. 

‘I still don’t quite understand her. With the two blondes it’s easy enough to keep them at arm’s length, at least for the most part minus that… one moment, but Sumire… There’s something about her. I just… can’t distrust her. No matter how hard I try, she always finds a way to break through to me… somehow. She probably doesn’t realize it either…’

“Alright, let’s begin.” Akira lazily looked at the front of the classroom to see a teacher standing there, but he hardly cared as his gaze immediately went back towards the window.

‘There’s nothing I can do about it. Guess we’re stuck with each other for the long haul…’

* * *

_“What the hell? We were pretty good friends and you were a really good guy, but you’re actually a criminal?”_

_“I’m not!”_

_“Dude, just… don’t get near us, okay?”_

_“Please, listen to me! I’m not a criminal! Don’t you believe me?!”_

_“I… I don’t know…”_

_“What…?”_

“Senpai?”

Akira’s eyes slowly opened, the afternoon sunlight obscuring his vision somewhat as he saw his only friend approaching. He saw the same look of concern that ate away at him so much, but he found that his irritation remained stagnant and he let out a small sigh. While his mind was wandering, he had let his guard down, and _they_ had returned once again.

“What’s wrong, Akira-senpai?”

‘She’s the only one I have… There’s nothing keeping the others from turning their backs on me; at this point I almost expect it…’

A grunt escaped from Akira as he stared through Sumire, his mind being pricked by invisible needles as...

_“Why… Why are they so willing to believe that I would do something like that? Aren’t they my friends? What did I do to deserve this?!”_

Unbeknownst to him, Akira’s hands had tightened, his nails digging into the craters from the day before and drawing some blood. However, a slam on the table was all it took to bring him from his stupor, his face mere inches away from Sumire’s.

“Senpai, stop!” Sumire pleaded, and while her voice cracked with fear and concern, there was not any trace of apprehension within it or on her face. “What’s wrong?!”

“Sumire…” Akira trailed off, and as the pressure on his palms lightened, so did the tension throughout his body that culminated in his shoulders. “You… You won’t leave, right?” The words fell right out of his mouth, and he could barely process them himself. His focus was on the past, on those that he thought he knew and… loved.

“Senpai, I…” Sumire began, ripping Akira’s mind from the still present form of his “friends”. The silence that filled the air was brief and heavy, but Akira found his mind momentarily free from the memories as Sumire sat down in the seat right beside him, their gazes connecting instantly. “I could never, Akira-senpai.”

_“Why would you do something like that?”_

_“I didn’t!”_

_“How can I be sure about that though?!”_

_“Because we’re best friends, dammit! We’re supposed to believe in each other!”_

_“...Dude, just… leave me alo–”_

“I could never leave you, Senpai! You’re… You’re my best friend!”

Everything that had been building within Akira throughout the day; all his frustrations, irritation, fear and paranoia dissipated. His breath had been taken away as he stared at Sumire. There was nothing but the truth within her eyes and on her face, no room for any falsehoods. The people that Akira thought he knew vanished from his mind, the only thing he was able, no, _wanted_ , to think about being the person right in front of him.

“You… You’ve become someone I can rely on, put my trust in. Everyone else cast me aside, with my only friend being…” Guilt poured into Akira’s chest and his eyes widened as he saw tears beginning to well up within Sumire’s eyes, small sniffles emanating from his best friend, but he couldn’t move. How stupid was he? She had told and shown him over and over that she wouldn’t leave, that she was his only true friend, and he just threw that all back into her face, just like that.

“Don’t say anything else,” Akira spoke surprisingly calmly despite the state his heart was in, his eyes locked onto Sumire’s watery orbs.

“But Senpai…!”

Akira jumped to his feet, reaching down for Sumire’s chin as she tried to look down, and pulled it up for their eyes to meet. Tears were still shimmering within her orbs, but just beneath her glasses he could see other emotions spill into her gaze, ranging from shock and surprise to realization and calmness. “Sumire, I’m so sorry. I got caught up thinking about… my ‘friends’,” Akira laid all his disgust into that one word, his body feeling lighter every moment he stared into Sumire’s round eyes. “But they’re all in the past. I have you, and you have me. I can’t believe I needed to be reminded about that, but no more.”

“S-Senpai…” As her faint voice reached his ears, Akira allowed a smile onto his face. A small blush was forming on her cheeks, but Akira kept his gaze solely on Sumire’s eyes, keeping his hand steady underneath her chin as he felt her attempt to move her head. He wasn’t going to let her go, not with the heavy guilt still resting upon his heart.

“I can’t promise much, but I’ll try my best to be a better friend. For you, Sumire.”

Akira didn’t say anymore; he couldn’t and knew he didn’t need to. Everything around him was slowed and dimmed, but he didn’t take notice of the change as Sumire’s eyes were his sole focus. It was truly the first time he realized, but her skin was smooth and warm to the touch. He… wanted to stay like that longer, holding her head steady within his hand. Her tears were gone, replaced with a light dusting of pink he had grown accustomed to in these moments and a small smile, a smile that told him his friend was okay, that her strife was gone. However, he knew he couldn’t, that they couldn’t, and pulled his hand back as Sumire retook control of her head.

“Thank you, Senpai…” Sumire whispered as Akira found his way back to his seat. He looked up to see her wiping away the remaining tears on her rosy cheeks, her smile growing by the second as the world around them brightened. Akira simply shook his head, sharing her smile as he pushed the remainder of his guilt out of his mind.

“I should be the one thanking you,” Akira chuckled, still a foreign action to him but one that felt almost natural in the moment. A small but tender moment passed as the two friends stared into one another’s eyes, the strange feeling that had made itself known to Akira earlier in the day coming back, before his eyes flashed with realization and he reached down into his pocket. “Oh right, I found something you might want to see.” He procured a piece of paper from the pocket, placing it down right in front of Sumire whose head was tilted to the side.

Sumire reached over and picked up the piece of paper, her face scrunched up in confusion, and Akira found that he couldn’t get his eyes off her as she began to read. “‘You’ve seen the Phantom Aficionado Website, right? Well, I’m the one that made it! Also… You’re a Phantom Thief, right? I’ll keep it a secret if things are as I think. Kamoshida used me to do some awful things to you, and I know this isn’t much of an apology, but please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help! From, Yuuki Mishima.’ Um… Who is this, Senpai?”

“A guy in my class,” Akira replied simply as Sumire placed the note onto the table.

“What did Kamoshida make him do though?”

“He forced him to leak my record.”

“What?! Really?!” Sumire exclaimed, but Akira just held up his hand in an attempt to calm her down.

“Yeah, but it’s fine. It was going to get out either way.” Akira shrugged, still unable to tear his eyes off of the redhead sitting next to him. The mood had shifted so much within just a few minutes, but that was nothing new for Akira as he relaxed into his seat, crossing his legs and arms.

“Wait… Isn’t it bad that he knows who we are?”

“Who knows what now?”

Akira and Sumire simultaneously turned to see the two blondes walking towards them, Ryuji in the lead as he stared directly at Akira. His relaxed body tensed almost immediately, but Akira simply sighed and pointed at the piece of paper on the table. Sumire being next to him assisted in keeping everything that had been plaguing his mind earlier at bay, but he still felt the residual effects from the memories, putting him on edge around the two blondes.

“He’s not a bad guy, so I’m not worried at all,” Ryuji immediately said, handing Akira back the note before sitting back down.

“He might be useful as well,” Akira leaned back in his seat, his chin in his hand as he stared off into space. He didn’t want to stay any longer than needed, especially with the other two there now. “There’s still nothing on a new target, right?”

“Nothin’ yet. The site is full of petty requests right now. What’s the plan for tod–”

“Expected.” Akira pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the rest of what Ryuji said as he turned towards Sumire. “I’m leaving for now. Want to walk together?”

Sumire’s face lit up instantaneously, her eyes sparkling underneath her glasses as she jumped to her feet as well. “Yes!” However, as they both turned towards the door, Akira froze. A short haired girl was walking towards him and the three around him, a plain expression on her face, and Akira knew who she was as his hands instinctively tightened into fists.

“This place is off-limits, you know,” the newcomer said, her voice levelled and calculated.

“We’ll get out of here once we’re done chattin’,” Ryuji shot back. Akira’s body shook slightly, his eyes sharpening into his glare once again as he kept them on the new girl. “Anyways, what’s Miss Council President want with us?”

“The troublemaker, the center of gossip, the honor’s student, and the infamous transfer student. Hmm, interesting combination.”

“Great way to start a conversation…” Ann muttered, but Akira could barely hear her as he held the president’s red eyes.

“It seems as though you got to know Mr. Kamoshida pretty well,” she said, and if it wasn’t for Sumire right next to him, Akira wouldn’t be certain that he wouldn’t lose himself. However, he managed to stay calm due to his only friend’s presence.

“No,” he only replied with, his voice dripping with disgust as his eyes continued to sharpen.

“I heard Mr. Kamoshida used a volleyball team member to spread details of your past record. Don’t you hate him?”

“It was going to get out.” Akira could feel Sumire’s eyes trained on him, and even catching a glimpse of the ruby orbs as he let out a small sigh and closed his eyes for a brief moment. However, as he reopened them, he put all his hatred, disgust, and anger into his grey eyes and directed all of it at this girl who was trying to act high and mighty with him. “Do you think you’re smart? For noticing the victims of that cretin hanging out with each other? Anyone with half a brain could figure that out. Now get out of our way. We’re leaving Sumire. You two should also get going as well.”

A burning sensation was flowing throughout his body as Akira began moving past the president, his face darkening with every step he took. He didn’t truly know who she was, but he did know that the principal had her wrapped around his fat little thumb. That was all he needed to know; she was the worst out of everyone at this damn school.

“Can’t you at least understand the position I’m in? Being forced to deal with this horsepl–”

“Deal with it yourself and leave us the hell alone.”

“Wait just a mome–”

The door shut behind the two as Akira heard the fast moving footsteps on the other side, and he let out a sigh as he continued moving forward.

“Senpai, what was that about?” Sumire asked after a long moment of silence between the two. Akira still felt the fire within him, but every step he took in tandem with his redheaded friend cooled him off until the disgust in his chest was completely gone.

“She’s looking for the Phantom Thieves, no doubt because she was told to,” Akira replied, taking a glance over to see Sumire’s face break out with worry and held up his hand to stop her before she even started. “I’ll make sure she won’t get anything. If she approaches you, come find me. She’s scared of me, just like every other damn person at this school.”

Akira bit his tongue, but it was already too late. What was said was said, and he waited for Sumire to try and get him to stop saying that, but it never came. Instead, her face was calm and calculated, almost like she was lost in thought.

“I appreciate that, Akira-senpai. But wait, Senpai! Didn’t we leave Ann-senpai and Ryuji-senpai up there with her?”

“They should be able to tell that she wants something, and they both seemed to hate her just as much as I do,” Akira replied, and he could tell without even looking over that he wasn’t helping as Sumire’s body was still tensed up. However, he couldn’t say anything else on the topic, and within the silence he reached down and pulled out his phone. “I forgot…” Akira could see Sumire tilt her head at him but managed to keep his eyes on his screen as he texted the group.

_Meet up at Central Square as soon as you can, Morgana wants to show us something._

“What does he want to show us?” Sumire instantly asked as the two slipped their phones back into their pockets, but Akira shrugged.

“I don’t know, he wouldn’t tell me. But he seemed excited,” Akira shook his head, turning to the left as he and Sumire began walking down the road parallel with Shujin.

“Akira-senpai, if we do go somewhere dangerous, can you promise me you’ll be careful?” 

Akira knew what was in store for him as he looked over, his eyebrows raised, but he still let out a string of internal curses. Sumire’s gaze was steady yet somehow wavering, almost a perfect storm of pleas coming from her face that Akira felt break down any defenses he scrambled to set up. The only thing he could even attempt to do was stay silent and continue moving forward; what could he even say? 

“Senpai… please! Please promise me you’ll stay safe!” Now he could hear the desperation in her voice, and he was instantly reminded of what just happened within the last hour.

‘I did say I would be a better friend for her… Dammit, do I even have a choice in the matter?’ Akira thought to himself, Sumire’s round, red eyes locked onto him, and he came to a stop in front of the station.

“I’ll be safe; I promise, okay?” A sigh followed as Akira relinquished the fact that he didn’t have any say, at least not with Sumire staring at him like that. But, with whatever was forcing him to do what Sumire asked of him came something else as he stared down at Sumire’s quickly brightening face.

“Really?” Her eyes were twinkling, and soon Akira found his lips being tugged upwards as he focused on the near jubilant expression covering her features.

“Trust me, I would prefer not to get any more scars,” Akira dryly joked, his right hand reaching up and scratching the back of his neck, and he turned to begin walking into the station. He could already see the light going from her eyes, and he didn’t want to see her fall backwards into any sort of depressive state. “I need to pick up Morgana. Do you want to come with, or are you going to stop at home?”

“I’ll come with you!” Sumire happily strode next to Akira and smiled upwards at him, a far cry from the desperation on her face mere moments earlier. The sheer amount of energy coming from her quickly spread to Akira and, despite his best efforts, the small grin on his face transformed into a simple smile for the rest of the ride.

* * *

“Why’d you need us here for?”

The five new members of the Phantom Thieves all stood around in front of the stairs leading down into the Underground Walkway. The two blondes were next to each other, Ryuji sitting on the ground while Ann was standing, and Akira found Sumire right by his side with Morgana laying on the stone handrail right behind Akira.

“Just do as I told you,” Morgana responded.

“I got it pulled up,” Akira stated, swiping through the Phantom Aficionado Website on his phone. He kept it low as Sumire stood on her tiptoes trying to see, allowing her easy access as Akira waited for further instructions.

“Look for a post with a full name in it.”

“There’s no info on any big shots. Don’t you remember?” Ryuji groaned, but Akira continued to scroll downwards. “But man, people actually go put someone’s real name on here. That’s some scary shit…”

“It’s useful to us,” Akira remarked dryly, going past posts that said “He won’t listen to what I say” and “Someone’s bad-mouthing me in online chat rooms” and shaking his head.

“Dude, is everything like that for you?”

“When it comes to this, yes.” Akira didn’t look up from his phone, and luckily before Ryuji could say something back Sumire pointed a finger at Akira’s screen.

“We found one!” She exclaimed. “‘I don’t know what to do about my ex who’s stalking me. His name is Natsuhiko Nakanohara.’ Isn’t this what we want?”

“That’s a perfect target!” Morgana got to his feet and met Akira’s gaze. “Let’s go!”

“We’re just gonna jump right into a Palace? Fine by me!” Ryuji got to his feet as well, a huge grin covering his face.

“We need unanimous consent,” Akira stared at Ann. “If we’re doing this, we’re following our rules.”

“I mean… Stalking people isn’t okay,” Ann stated, nodding her head towards Akira who turned his attention onto Morgana once again. 

“What are the keywords?”

“There’s only one for this. Just enter ‘Mementos’.”

“What are you gettin’ a–” Ryuji began, but Akira had typed in the word into the Nav and the female voice responded with “Candidate found.”. Without another moment, Akira tapped the entry in the Nav and the world around them began shimmering. A small rush of nausea passed over him, but as soon as it hit the feeling was gone and the bystanders around the five were gone.

“Mona, where are we?” Akira calmly asked, seeing the shock on the other three’s faces as they rapidly looked around themselves.

“Dude, aren’t you at least a little shocked?!” Ryuji exclaimed, but Akira shook his head.

“We already went through this numerous times with Kamoshida. You should be used to it by now.”

“I-I mean…” Using the silence from Ryuji, Akira turned back towards Morgana who was still in his cat form.

“Is this Nakanohara’s Palace?” He asked, and Morgana grinned back at him.

“Yes and no,” he answered. “This is a type of Palace, but different from the normal ones. Come on, let’s head downstairs. The Shadows here lurk underground.”

“Underground?” Sumire asked, and Akira glanced over to see her standing tall next to him and nearly grinned. At least she seemed used to it by now.

“I don’t quite understand why. Maybe they’re drawn to something down there. Anyways, follow me!” Without any further warning, the cat jumped from his vantage point and began running down the stairs.

“Ah, wait up cat!” Ryuji shouted, and the two blondes raced after Morgana, leaving Akira and Sumire alone at the top.

“Let’s g–,” Akira began as he walked forward, but Sumire’s gaze stopped him in his tracks and he turned around to see her staring at him expectantly. “I’ll be safe, Sumire. I already promised, and I won’t break it.”

“Thank you, Senp- Wha–?!”

Placing his hand on her head, Akira could feel the softness of Sumire’s hair on his palm as he stared down at his closest friend and allowed a smile onto his face. It was just the two of them, allowing Akira’s body to relax completely as he met Sumire’s round eyes, her mouth opening and closing rapidly as he saw a light blush form on her cheeks.

“We need to go.” Removing his hand from Sumire’s head, Akira caught a glimpse of her face falling before turning around, and he began descending the stairs with the strangely silent redhead behind him. However, a strange feeling entered into his gut as he was extremely aware of Sumire’s presence right behind him, but he kept his eyes forward as he continued to lead her downwards.

“There you two are!” Morgana exclaimed as Akira reached a platform after descending the stairs, and he noticed that the cat was no longer in his cat form but now standing on two feet with his cartoonishly huge head. He also saw the two blondes staring at him and Sumire right beside him, both of them in their thief outfits, and looking over at the redhead confirmed that they all changed. 

“What were you two even doing?’ Skull asked, a grin on his face as he stared at Joker. However, Joker looked from the blond towards Mona.

“What is this Mementos, Mona?” 

“It’s… everyone’s Palace.”

Joker couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows at the statement, and luckily for him the others around him looked just as shocked as him as he took a glance around before returning his sight on the cat.

“Waddaya mean, ‘everyone’s’?” 

“A Palace as grand as Kamoshida’s castle only forms when a person’s wishes are extremely distorted. Instead of many individual Palaces, the general public has one gigantic Palace: Mementos,” Mona continued explaining, and out of the corner of his eyes Joker could see Skull’s face scrunch up in confusion and let out a pre-emptive sigh.

“Senpai, doesn’t this place feel different from Kamoshida’s Palace?” Violet questioned, her blush gone for the most part as he looked down.

“Yeah,” Joker nodded before turning towards the escalators heading even further down, failing to ignore what seemed to be large veins coming from the ground, walls, and ceiling of the place. “If this is everyone’s Palace, I’m assuming we can change people’s hearts here as well.”

“Correct! You catch on fast when it comes to this stuff, Joker!” Mona exclaimed, bounding in front of Joker and the others with a large grin on his face.

“You said this place is gigantic though, Mona, and also that it’s teeming with Shadows. Are we going to be moving around like we did in Kamoshida’s Palace?” Panther asked, but the cat didn’t respond. Instead, he just chuckled as he walked to the right, the four staring curiously at him.

“It’s time… Morganaa… transfoooooorm!” After striking a ridiculous pose with his paw in the air, Mona leapt into the air and, with a gust of wind and a loud bursting noise, a large black and yellow van came crashing back down. 

“Come now, Panther, Violet. Ladies first,” the van spoke, its voice exactly the same as Mona’s. Joker quickly got control of his heart as he straightened back up, a small grin on his face as he stared at the cat-van.

“A car?!” 

“No way!”

“Mona-san, is… is that you?” 

“Yup!” Mona exclaimed, though where his voice was coming from Joker wasn’t sure, nor did he want to know. “This comes from the way cognition materializes in the Metaverse, plus a bit of extra training. It’s not dissimilar to how you guys transform.”

“Useful,” Joker commented as he approached the cat-van.

“Dude, how are you not shocked by this?!” Skull shouted after him. “And you transformin’ is totally different than our clothes changin’!”

“We summon historical and mythical figures to fight creatures that represent different aspects of humanity. A cat turning into a car isn’t that shocking,” Joker’s eyes ran over Mona and eventually found the door into the vehicle.

“At least you have a brain compared to hi- Wait, I am not a cat!” Mona interrupted himself, the van bouncing slightly as Joker reached for the handle and being forced to jump backwards.

“Mona-san, if I may, why didn’t you transform inside Kamoshida’s Palace?” Violet asked politely, moving next to Joker as he reached for the door once again.

“It was far too cramped in there, with too many stairs and I wouldn’t have been able to go onto the chandeliers. Now everyone, get in!”

“There’s another set of escalators,” Joker pointed towards the final set leading downwards, and with another poof of smoke the cat was back in front of him.

“Oh right… Hehe, guess I’ll transform again when we’re down there,” Mona tilted his head to his side so his tiny arms could reach it, scratching it with a sheepish look on his face, but Joker walked past him and the two blondes and towards the escalators with Violet right beside him.

“This place is creepy,” Violet noted once the two reached the bottom, and Joker nodded in response. Just from one glance Joker could tell this place was massive, the tracks leading to the right, and the atmosphere of the place was unnerving. A strange wind was flowing around Joker, his tailcoat flapping behind him as he stared at some of the pillars to see the same dark red and black substance concentrated at different points on it with things that looked like veins running out of them. However, as he looked around Mona scurried around them and transformed back into the van on the tracks, gaining his undivided attention.

“Get in!” With a swift nod, Joker walked towards and jumped onto the tracks of the underground subway. He was on edge, his eyes continually darting towards the large opening with every other step he took; the strange echoes coming from that general direction didn’t help at all, but he couldn’t see anything during his walk over to the cat-van. 

The interior of the cat-turned-vehicle was surprisingly comfortable looking, the three rows of seats covered with red cushions, and the tension flowing through Joker’s body seeped out ever so slightly as he jumped behind the wheel. He had never driven by himself before, but he did receive his temporary license and drove a few times with his parents before so he was somewhat acclimated with the dashboard, gas and brake pedals.

“Seriously? What the hell kind of cat is this?” Skull muttered as he jumped in right next to him, though he didn’t break Akira’s concentration on the interior of the cat-van as he searched for the ignition.

“I don’t know, this is pretty cool if you ask me. Now we won’t be walking around in the dark.” Joker thought he found the ignition as he heard Panther slide in behind him and Skull, but as he waited, the third person never entered the vehicle. 

“Violet, come on!” Joker called out, and he instantly recognized the look on her face as he looked over at her standing next to the door to the passenger side. Her eyes were darting around and her red gloved hands were messing with one section of her threeway divided tailcoat.

“U-Um, Skull-senpai?” She began nervously, and Joker already knew what she was going to ask. But the thing was that he couldn’t help feeling the same way, so he just closed his eyes and brought his head back forward.

“Yeah?”

“C-Can I sit next to Joker-senpai?”

Joker let out a small sigh; luckily there still wasn’t anything in the immediate area, but he was still on edge. Only to add onto the feeling, the budding warmth in his chest began growing exponentially as he reopened and locked eyes with Violet. The feeling was completely mind boggling to him, but it soon grew to be too much as he forced his plain gaze that he was doing his best to hold steady onto the confused blond next to him. “Let her, Skull. We need to get going.”

“O-Okay… Sure? I guess?” Sounding just as confused as he looked, Skull jumped through over the backstop and next to Panther, and Joker found himself staring down at Violet smiling sheepishly up at him. She quickly climbed into the cat-van, her smile never falling as she closed the door and turned her gaze back towards Joker. It was hard, but Joker managed to turn his eyes back forward off of the beaming girl next to him.

“We’re ready, Mona,” Joker called upwards.

“Alright, press the switch next to the steering wheel,” Mona said, his voice loud and clear and seemingly coming from the radio on the dashboard. Joker shook his head and reached down and pressed what the switch Mona was talking about; that wasn’t important. Instantly the cat-van purred to life, shaking slightly as Joker grabbed hold of the steering wheel. “Oh yeahhh, that feels soooo good.”

“Um, Senpai?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you… driven before?” Joker made eye contact with Violet and shook his head despite seeing the concern in her eyes.

“We’ll be fine,” he replied confidently.

“You better not smash up my beautiful fa- Ah!”

The cat-van rocketed forwards as Joker slammed on the gas, going into the unknown. Joker could hear the ominous gusts of wind pick up all around the cat-van, but inside was completely calm. Turning right, then left, then right again as the path split, Joker found that even if he stayed focused, there was only so much he could see past Mona’s headlights.

“How are we going to find this guy, Mona?” He called forward, breaking the silence that had unintentionally fallen over the five.

“You don’t have to shout, okay?! I can hear you loud and clear from in there.” Joker’s suspicions were right; the cat’s voice was coming from the radio in between him and Violet.

“Just tell me what to look out for.”

“R-Right, sorry. I can feel Nakanohara’s Shadow nearby. Oh! His distortions should have created an area specifically for him!” 

“So… like a Palace?” Violet asked as Joker turned to the left. He found that driving Mona was completely different than any other car. The cat-van was light and was far too easy to maneuver around the tunnels with.

“Kind of, but not quite,” Mona responded, and Joker frowned. It felt like he was going in circles now, but he had been keeping track of his surroundings. It was just that everything looked the damn same. “Just keep your eyes open, Joker!”

Just as Mona finished, Joker slammed on the breaks after turning right. 

“Senpai, is that…?”

“It’s a Shadow, but it’s massive,” Joker stared at the shambling mass around halfway down the tunnel, it’s every movement making him feel like he was going to be sick. Though, through his disgust, he focused upwards and opened his Third Eye.

“I was wondering where they were.” Mona’s voice was matter-of-factly, like it wasn’t a problem that Joker saw five Shadows within the goopy creature. 

“How can we even deal with something that big?” Panther asked, the shakiness within her voice adequately resembling Joker’s own hesitation, but the cat-van just chuckled through the radio.

“Joker, there’s a button near your right thumb on my wheel. Press it just as we get near the Shadow, but make sure you approach from behind still!”

Though Joker could feel the button Mona was talking about near his right thumb, he couldn’t help but glance over and meet Violet’s concerned gaze with his own. But the Shadow turned around, shambling away from the cat-van without noticing them, so Joker, knowing that there weren’t any other options, sped ahead.

“Hold on!” Mona shouted as Joker’s thumb barely pressed down on the button.

“Whoa!” Three shouts of surprise filled the ominous tunnels as the Mona-van leapt off the ground, shooting through the small space in between him and the Shadow before slamming into the deformed body. Surprisingly, Joker barely felt the impact at all as he saw the Shadow fall onto its back but didn’t have time to register the fact as the cat-bus skidded to a stop while turning 180 degrees back towards the now writhing Shadow on the ground.

“Mona, back us up and keep watch for any of those other Shadows! Violet, you two, come with me!” Joker commanded as he tried to kick open the door to his left, but he was suddenly and abruptly pulled out of the back of the cat-van as it moved autonomously with backs of the seats disappearing. In the chaos of the moment, Joker kept his Third Eye open, his attention staying on the gross Shadows just now beginning to form from the massive amount of black liquid, and slid to a stop as his right hand grabbed hold of his knife flashing into existence. 

“Sorry, but we couldn’t just sit around waiting for you guys to get out! And got it, Joker!” Mona shouted back, and Joker kept his focus on the dazed Shadows in front of him as a loud pop and a large amount of smoke came from behind him.

“Violet, Skull, Panther! You three attack up close with your Personas while I’ll try and find their weakness!” Joker could feel Violet’s gaze on him, but he managed to ignore it as he reached up to his mask. “Arsene! Go, you three!”

Tendrils of black and red energy formed underneath the nearest shambling Shadow, it’s body not having a form as it tried to slink towards the Thieves. The sharpened energy cut through its body, a splatter of its blood flying around it, but it was still alive. Just as Joker was about to open his mouth again, Violet dashed forward in front of him with her rapier was in her clenched hand and her other on her mask.

“Cendrillon, Kouha!” The command was ripped from her throat, and Joker let his guard down for just a moment as he watched her tumble past three waves of energy crashing down on her. Then, with three excellently placed stabs into the center of the Shadow directly in front of her, Violet spun to her right, allowing the twin orbs of pure light to engulf the Shadow.

“Bicorn!” Joker roared, his eyes locked onto the Shadow furthest away from the girl as energy began gathering in front of it. The Shadow Violet was in front of was still standing, the light dying down to reveal that the Shadow was burnt but not dead. “Violet, move back!”

She did so instantly, the crash of energy shaking the ground slightly as small bits of stone flew up into the air, with her mask forming back onto her face.

“Go get ‘em, Captain!” Rocketing forward, Skull’s Persona shook the surrounding area, electricity crackling within its arm cannon as Skull rushed forward underneath it with his oversized pipe in hand.

“Skull, watch out for–”

Mona was too late as both the blond and Captain Kidd ate two blasts of energy from the slimy Shadows, sending the Persona user flying backwards as Captain Kidd disappeared back into his mask.

“Mona, heal him!” Joker shouted, gripping his knife as he braced his legs. His body was sore just from being flung out of the Mona-van, but he forced his focus away from the pain as Bicorn rammed into the nearest Shadow, but its horns barely dug into the Shadow as it straightened itself nearly immediately. “Garu!”

Forcing himself forward, Joker managed to get Bicorn to dodge away from the Shadow as it tried to slam its head into the Persona while a green flurry rushed from the green horned beast. The Shadow was left completely open as it tried to pull itself back up, but the sharp blades of green wind easily bit into the Shadow and knocked it cleanly to the ground. Blood was spilling from the hundreds of cuts left from the green energy, and Joker felt a sudden rush of power as he called Bicorn back into his mask.

“Violet!” Without a second thought, Joker dashed towards the redhead as she cartwheeled backwards, gracefully dodging three large blasts originating from the Shadows.

“Okay!” With a smack of their hands, Joker felt the excess power leave him, but he continued rushing towards the five Shadows. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Violet speeding ahead as well, easily overtaking him as she reached back up for her mask.

“Kouha!”

An even more intense light came from the attack swirling onto one of the completely healthy Shadows, and while Joker was engrossed in the attack for just a brief moment he twirled to the left before sliding on the ground, two concentrated points of energy flying around him as he continued to approach the Shadows.

“Tch…” Grunts emanated from him as he jumped back to his feet; his still-tender back hurt like hell. “Panther, attack!”

“Got it! Show them hell, Carmen!” A blast of fire flew over Joker’s head as he reached up for his mask, the heat from it enough to reach and make him wince slightly.

‘Weak to fire as well,’ Joker thought as the fire burnt the center Shadow into a crisp, leaving nothing but dust behind. “Panther, attack again! Garu!”  
Joker twirled to his right just as Bicorn burst into existence in front of him, stopping the Shadow in front of him from slamming directly onto him. Pain entered Joker’s system as his chest lit up with the fiery feeling, but he managed to keep his focus as he let go of his knife while shooting towards the Shadow.

A flurry of green energy rose up around the Shadow, flecking its blood all around the battlefield as Joker raised his pistol. All around him blasts of energy were hitting the ground, and he watched as another set of balls of light slammed into yet another Shadow before three shots rang around the tunnel. Joker couldn’t help the grin from flashing onto his face as he saw the Shadow Violet was facing dissipate, but he returned his focus on his own enemy as his pistol met the top of it’s head.

Without a word and with three bullets shooting through the Shadow, Joker watched with cold eyes as the creature disappeared into nothing.The lack of conflict around him told him everything he needed to know, along with the fact that he could hear Violet rushing towards him from the right.

“Let’s keep going,” he managed to say before Violet could open her mouth, turning around in one motion towards Mona. His body was aching despite only being hit indirectly once, but he kept that to himself as he jumped into the cat-van, Violet and the two blondes doing the same, before taking off.

“You guys really cleaned up back there!” Mona exclaimed, but Joker stayed silent as he launched the cat into a large door that spanned the entirety of the tunnel, two chains meeting in the middle of the door. As the cat-van hit the barricade, the chains broke, and the door slid open. “Hey, warn me at least before you go and smash me into shit!”

“When we approach something that seems breakable, I’m going to launch you forward,” Joker replied calmly, his eyes wandering over to the left to see a set of escalators heading downwards.

“Joker, we can’t go down yet. The target is still on this floor, and I can feel it’s really close by.”

With a sigh, Joker turned the cat-van around with a slight hop and continued to drive forward. After making a right, Joker stopped Mona once again as a black and red looking portal met his eyes.

“Is that where the Shadow is, Senpai?” Violet asked, and Joker simply nodded. Without giving the chance for the cat to explain further, Joker pressed down on the gas, speeding past another Shadow standing in front of the portal and sent Mona forward into the air and through said portal.

On the other side, Joker found himself falling freely to the ground, Mona transforming back into a cat right in the middle of the four. “Shit… Can’t you warn us when you’re about to go cat form again?” 

“Nakanohara’s Shadow is right there, quiet!” Joker hissed, prematurely stopping the argument between the blond and the cat as Violet turned her head towards him.

“Senpai, he’s the stalker, correct?” Joker nodded towards Violet. “We need to stop him before he does anything to that woman!”

“Right, Violet!” Panther exclaimed, and Joker began to stride towards the muttering Shadow.

“Who are you?! Stop right there!” Shadow Nakanohara nearly screeched. Joker could see the fear written clearly on his face, his eyes wide underneath his glasses.

“Think about your ex! How do you think she feels with you stalking her?!” Panther shouted, anger clear in her voice.

“She’s my property! I can do whatever I want with her!” The Shadow continued screeching, his eyes quickly becoming crazed. “It’s not like she didn’t treat me like a plaything! What’s wrong with me doing the same?!”

“I’ve heard enough. We’re changing your heart,” Joker calmly stated, taking a step towards the Shadow. His eyes were as cold as steel, his knife slipping into existence into his hand.

“What about Madarame…? He stole everything from me, but you’re letting him off the hook?!”

“First time I heard about him. Now, fight or give up.” Joker raised his knife, feeling Genbu at the forefront of his mind. With a slight rumble being sent throughout the ground, Shadow Nakanohara burst into black liquid only for a bouncing, impish Shadow with a bowl cut to take his place.

“He chose fight. Violet!” Joker shouted, and instantly the redhead was by his side, her rapier parallel with his knife.

“Now that I finally have what’s rightfully mine… I’m not letting you take it away…” The Shadow glared directly at Joker. “Look… this is a winner-takes-all world. Come fight me and I’ll show you what I me- Ow!”

A scratch appeared on the Shadow’s cheek as Joker flashed his knife across its face, though he swore it would have gone deeper than that. “Stop talking and fight.” Joker’s eyes were wide, his mask still on his face, and he easily stepped backwards as the Shadow tried to swipe at him. “Violet!”

“Cendrillon!” Joker glared at the Shadow as it tried to swing downwards at him, it’s large fist sure to hurt like hell, but he didn’t move. Instead, the Shadow stumbled forwards as the blessed blasts coalesced at the center of his back before exploding into a burst of light.

Reaching upwards, Joker had to jump backwards as a blast of energy shot from the Shadow’s arms, breaking the ground underneath where he was. “Genbu, Zio!”

When fusing the turtle Persona, Joker paid no mind to the two Personas he lost, only caring for the strengths of his new one, but it turned out elements of Pixie were left within Genbu. From above, a streak of electricity crackled before slamming Shadow Nakanohara down onto the ground.

“What… the… hell…?” The Shadow muttered, but Joker paid the weakened creature no mind as he met Violet’s eyes and nodded. His hand hanging in the air, Joker felt the rush of power leave once again as their red gloves met, but saw Violet’s eyes widen before she flipped towards the helpless Shadow.

“Brave Step!” Violet exclaimed, crackles of flames shooting all around her, and Joker stood perfectly still as Violet flung her hand forward. “Go, Cendrillon!”

Her Persona did just that, its legs beginning to glow brilliantly as it dove towards the Shadow. The small grin that Joker wore turned into a frown, however, as the sheer impact of the spinning kick only resulted in a light gash across Nakanohara’s chest. The Shadow slid to a stop, it’s eyes becoming wilder as Joker saw it stare at Violet.

“No so fast!” Joker shouted, Arsene holding out its claw as it burst into existence where Genbu was standing, and a dark green light filled the Shadow as another shot of energy flew towards Violet. “Eiha!”

“Kouha!”

Without having to look over, Joker knew that the attack hit nothing but ground, and his grin reappeared on his face as the cursed and blessed energy from Arsene and Cendrillon quickly surrounded Nakanohara. Nothing came from the Shadow as both elements engulfed him completely and utterly, leaving only the beaten and bruised human version left on the ground as the elements cleared.

“Holy shit…”

“I… I didn’t even get to do anything…”

“You two were amazing!”

Joker blinked a few times, suddenly being reminded of his other teammates behind him and Violet, but instead of turning towards them he walked up towards Nakanohara’s Shadow. “You said this was a winner-takes-all world. Well, we won.”

“N-No wait, please! I’m sorry for what I’ve done!” Nakanohara shouted, the only thing underneath his broken glasses being fear. “I-I couldn’t stop obsessing… Not after this person I trusted used me and then disposed of m–”

“Get on with it,” Joker growled, his eyes shooting daggers at the broken down Shadow.

“I-I’ll put an end to my love for my ex-girlfriend right now! I’m sorry!”

Joker’s glare never left the Shadow as it looked down; he could see the struggle within his eyes, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. However, with Violet right next to him, her eyes staring up at him beneath her mask, Joker found himself calming down just as the Shadow looked back up at him.

“...Hey, you can change people’s hearts, right?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Then… please change Madarame’s heart. Before more people fall victim to him.”

Before Joker could even react, Nakanohara’s Shadow began shimmering before disappearing, turning into a ball of light.

“Change Madarame’s heart? Senpai, do… do you know who that is?” Violet asked as the two approached the orb, the other three following close behind them.

“No clue,” Joker shook his head as he stared at the shiny orb. “Is this his Treasure, Mona?”

“Yeah. If we left it be, it could have turned into a Palace,” Mona responded behind Joker. “This will make for a perfect reward!”

With a nod, Joker swiftly snatched the orb, feeling it turn into some sort of pearl within his grasp, but he tucked it into his coat before turning around.

“Sooo… we did it? He had a change of heart?” Skull asked as Joker began to walk back towards the portal.

“Well, more like Joker and Violet did it. Seriously, that was incredible,” Panther said in awe.

“T-Thanks, Panther-senpai…” Violet nervously scratched the back of her head, and Joker nearly cracked a smile upon seeing a slight blush on her cheeks. “Um, Senpai? How will we know that he had a change of heart?”

“Probably from the woman who made the post,” Joker answered. “Mona, is there anything else we need to do down here?”

“There’s something I want to show you guys! It won’t take long, so…”

“Show me, don’t tell me.”

“G-Got it!”

Mona quickly transformed into the cat-van, and Joker led Violet and the two blondes into it before taking off out of the room.

“Where are we going, Mona?” Joker asked, already heading towards the area with the escalators heading downwards.

“You probably already know, but that platform we saw earlier is the way down. We’re heading there first.”

“Wait, you’ve been here before? Why don’t you have a map or somethin’?” Skull leaned forward in between Joker and Violet, and Joker just managed to ignore how loud his voice was as he concentrated on the road.

“It’s not that simple. Mementos is the fused cognition of a countless number of people. It’s constantly shifting, so a map would be effectively useless,” Mona explained, his voice hitching as Joker rammed him into the door that led to the platform once again.

“We’re here, let’s go,” Joker announced as he jumped onto the platform. He clearly felt his body’s exhaustion, with every step he took sending a not insignificant shot of pain throughout his muscles, but he pushed through it as Violet jumped to his side, the other three behind them. However, he stopped as he heard the familiar screech of a train, and his eyes were led to the other side of the bars and stone dividing the subway to see a train filled with red light come to a stop.

“The trains’re totally running!” Skull shouted.

“We’re in the subway,” Joker responded matter-of-factly, beginning to turn once again.

“But this is a Palace!” Panther sided with Skull, and Joker let out a sigh.

“Why are you two surprised? We went through a castle with loads of traps; this isn’t shocking in the slightest. And no, I don’t think we’ll get hit by any trains. None could even run on these tracks with how much they twist and turn. Now come on, we’re wasting time.”

With Violet by his side and irritation building in his head, Joker moved down the escalator. The ride down was quick, and he found himself staring at a straight room with a door blocking the path at the end.

“Senpai, this… is creepy,” Violet stated as they walked towards the wall blocking them from progressing, red light shining on the ground and on the wall and creating complex patterns.

“Yeah,” Joker nodded, with Mona waddling ahead and stopping in front of the door. “What is this?”

“This is definitely not an ordinary wall,” Mona said as he reached out his paw and, the moment it touched the wall, the entire room began shaking. Then, the center of the wall moved upwards, and the four corners that remained rotated inwards before opening the path forward to reveal another set of escalators going downwards.

“It opened!” Panther exclaimed.

“A new area has been confirmed in the depths. Updating guidance information.” Within Joker’s pocket he heard the Navigator speak, but he kept his attention on the cat in front of him.

“See!? It’s just as I thought!” Mona cheered happily.  
“What’s that mean?” Joker asked, crossing his arms.

“That wall wouldn’t budge when I came here by myself before. But it’d be weird for the deepest part of Mementos to be some normal place like this, wouldn’t it?”

“Mementos is the Palace of the public, right?” Mona nodded, and Joker’s face went blank as he delved into thought. “Is it because we changed Kamoshida’s heart? Or the reaction it garnered, to be more precise?”

“That’s exactly it! You think through this stuff really fast, Joker!”

“Should we keep going?” Violet tilted her head, but Joker and Mona shook their heads in tandem.

“There’s no reason for us to be here any longer. Mona, is there anything like those lifts we found in the Safe Rooms?”

“Hmm…” Mona walked over to the right side of the escalators and began feeling around. “Aha!”

With a click, a familiar elevator-type contraption opened up.

“That’ll work. Let’s go.” Without another word, Joker led Violet and the other three into the lift and pressed the only other button on there to lead to the top. The lift stopped as soon as it started, opening up to reveal the area where they first entered in from. However…

“Ooh!”

Joker blinked slowly as he watched a little boy reach up towards a bunch of floating flowers which somehow turned into a glass of… something. Then, he drank it with a look of satisfaction on his face.

“A human? In Mementos?” Mona cried out, instantly getting the little boy’s attention.

“Oh? Hmm, I thought I felt something strange for a second…” The silver haired boy spoke cheerfully, and Joker felt slightly on edge as he stared into the spiral pattern within his eyes.

“Who are you?” Joker asked, seeing the kid open his mouth again.

“My name is Jose. I’m looking for flowers,” the kid, Jose, explained before turning his gaze solely onto Joker. “I’m pretty surprised to see normal humans running around. I didn’t know people could just come in here.”

“Well, we are specia- Wait, that isn’t the point here!” Mona interrupted himself to point his paw up at Jose. “Who YOU are is what matters right now!”

“When you said you were looking for flowers, did you mean that floating thing?” Panther asked.

“That’s right, pretty lady. I drink them to study humans.”

“So, you aren’t human then,” Joker remarked dryly before stepping forward. 

“Yup!”

“Then what are you?”

“Scary mister, could you and your friends help me with my research?” Jose completely ignored Skull’s question, staring only at Joker. “I won’t ask you to do it for free. I’ll trade some of that stuff in my car for more flowers.”

“Senpai, what do you think?” Violet asked as Joker crossed his arms. 

‘It wouldn’t be a bad thing to get more gear from him, and it wouldn’t be that hard to collect those flowers…’ Joker thought.

“Sounds good to me,” he eventually said, and Mona whipped around.

“Joker, are you sure we can trust this kid?!”

“I trusted you, didn’t I? Besides, he can be useful.”

“Thank you, scary mister!” Jose smiled up at Joker, who only nodded downwards. “Well, I’ll be going now! I’ll be looking for flowers around here, so stop by and say hi if you see me. Oh, and I guess just gathering flowers would be kind of boring, huh? I’ll make sure to come up with something by the time I see you next!”

As Jose began climbing into his car, Joker looked over to see Violet already staring at him in confusion. He shared the exact same feeling, only able to hide it within himself. Who was this kid? And if he wasn’t a human, what was he?

“Oh wait!” Before Joker could react, Jose was walking back up to him. “I wanted to give you all something! Here you go, scary mister!”

Joker reached down as Jose reached into his pocket and procured a blue star shaped object, taking it into his hand and looking at it curiously.

“What the heck is that?” Skull exclaimed.

“It’s a star. Or at least that’s what they look like, so that’s what I call them.”

“A star? What does it do?” Violet asked, peering intently at the object in Joker’s hand.

“Well, humans make wishes on stars, correct? That’s so interesting. That’s why this star is going to grant your wishes.”

“W-What? Our wishes!?” The redhead exclaimed, but Jose chuckled and shook his head.

“Or it would be nice to think that. I want you to have this pretty star as a sign of our friendship, okay?”

“We aren’t friends, kid. But… okay,” Joker responded, nodding his head before turning. “See you next time.”  
“Bye bye! And ‘good job’! That’s a phrase humans like to say, right?” Just like that, Joker heard Jose climb into his car and speed off, somehow making it down the escalators with ease.

“Senpai, couldn’t you have been a little nicer to him?” Violet asked, walking right next to Joker as he made his way back to the surface.

“We don’t know him,” Joker replied plainly, turning to Mona as they made their way to the spot that they entered from, and saw that he returned to his normal cat form and the others and him had changed clothes. “I’ve been meaning to ask, but was that the place you wanted to show me Mona?”

“Yep,” the cat nodded. “Like you said earlier, that wall probably opened up because we defeated Kamoshida. Because Mementos is the Palace of the public… it might be affected by the general public’s belief in us.”

“Why do you know so much about it, Morgana?” Ann asked, and Morgana lowered his head towards the ground.

“My memory of that is a little foggy, but I know that the depths of Mementos is my goal. I have to reach there, no matter what.”

“Is that why you asked me to help?” Akira looked down at Morgana, who nodded as he stared determinedly up at him.

“Yes. Mementos is the source of all other Palaces. It used to be that Palaces like Kamoshida’s with one ruler didn’t exist, so if we can do something about the greatest cause of distortions, I’m certain I will turn back…”

“You needed help,” Sumire said, a smile on her face as Joker glanced over.

“I-I just needed pawns,” Morgana shook his head wildly.

“No, you needed help. Sumire put it best.” Akira met the redhead’s eyes and nodded, and the strange feeling that had just taken form within him earlier in the day returned. But there was something else; he felt closer to Morgana, knowing that he was just as lost, maybe even more lost, as him. He saw the cat in a new light. 

“We’ll help, won’t we Senpai?”

“We’re a team now, so… yeah,” Akira nodded once again before turning around. “Let’s head out. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

As Akira pulled out his phone, Sumire appeared next to him again. “Senpai, let’s walk together!”

A small, small smile appeared on Akira’s face as he caught her bright face out of the corner of his eyes, and, with Morgana in his bag and the two blondes saying their goodbyes, the five exited the Metaverse, and Akira and Sumire slipped into the busy crowd.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Sumire. Nice work today,” Akira held up his hand in goodbye as he and his best friend stopped in front of her station.

“Thank you, Senpai! We really do work well together, huh?” Sumire beamed upwards, and Akira nodded with a slight grin crossing his face.

“You did most of the work, but yeah, you’re right.”

“Senpai?”

“What’s up?”

“Um…” Sumire looked down, her faces suddenly showing plenty of nerves as her hands began messing with her skirt. “T-Thank you for keeping your promise.”

“I won’t lie to you, Sumire. We’re friends; it took me a while to get that fact through my head, but I know that now.”

Sumire’s head slowly raised back up, her smile much smaller but still present as she caught Akira’s gaze. “Senpai… You really are my best friend.”

Akira lowered his head, his grin becoming larger as he let out a low chuckle before looking back up at the redhead. “And you’re mine, Sumire. Now, you should get going.”


	21. Mind and Body

Over the weekend after learning of Mementos and taking down Nakanohara, Sumire found herself annoyingly busy.With both exam preparations and Gymnastics practice taking up most of her time over the two days, she found little free time for herself, which also meant that she couldn’t hang out with Akira. Even as he told her to not worry about it and that there would be time to hang out after their exams starting Wednesday, she couldn’t stop her mind as it continually refocused on him every other moment it could.

During lunch on Monday, Sumire found herself staying in her classroom, furiously studying Math. While she performed well in her other subjects, she found that Math caused her the most trouble. She barely touched her food that she had packed for the day, which already wasn’t that much considering she had to rush out of the house due to oversleeping. 

‘I wonder what Senpai is doing… Is he studying as well right now? Does he even need to study?’ Sumire thought, forcing her eyes off her math textbook and onto her lunch as her growling stomach proved to be too much for her. She let out a small but long yawn, her eyelids drooping. ‘I shouldn’t have stayed up that late last night… And Coach is pushing me just as hard even though I have exams. How… How do I do this again?’

Her mind was blank as her tired eyes returned to her textbook. It was as if everything she had previously learned had left her entirely, the equations on the page seeming foreign even though she had practiced them so much.

“Yoshizawa-san, lunchtime is over. Please put away your lunchbox so we may begin class.” Sumire looked up to see her math teacher standing at the front of the room and tiredly slid her still heavy lunch box underneath her seat, returning her gaze back to the teacher and ignoring the gazes of the other students staring at her. 

‘Maybe… Maybe I can get Senpai to help me study…’ As she tried to focus back on class, Sumire felt her phone vibrate in her blazer and let out a sigh; it was probably Ryuji texting the group chat as he had already done so numerous times during class about finding new targets, which there have been none so far. However, Sumire’s curiosity got the better of her and, with her teacher facing the blackboard, she reached down and drew out her phone.

‘Senpai?’

_ Akira: Are you okay? _

Sumire’s face scrunched ever so slightly, something she quickly wiped off as she quickly looked back up only to see her teacher still preoccupied. ‘Did something happen? Why is Senpai asking that right now?’ Glancing back downwards, Sumire began texting her response.

_ What do you mean, Senpai? _

_ Akira: You weren’t at lunch and wouldn’t answer any of my previous texts. _

Her heart fell as she simply looked up to see that yes, she had missed three text messages from him.

_ I’m so sorry, Senpai! I was studying today in my classroom, so I didn’t have much time to check my phone! _

_ Akira: Don’t push yourself too much. Are you stressed about exams? _

Sumire quickly pressed her phone onto her thigh as her eyes shot back up to her teacher, who had turned back around. She really couldn’t pay attention before, and now with Akira texting her she found it impossible as her teacher’s instructions went in one ear and out the other. Thankfully her teacher turned back around, and Sumire’s eyes immediately went back downwards.

_ Yes… _

_ No matter how hard I study, I can’t seem to keep everything in my head, and practice hasn’t helped with that either. _

_ Akira: You’re probably doing it wrong. Last year I had similar issues, so I retaught myself on how to study. _

_ Akira: You’re free tonight, correct? _

_ Mhm. _

For some reason, Sumire found her heart beating faster and faster as she stared down at her phone. She should have been grateful that her teacher wasn’t looking backwards, but she wasn’t paying any attention at all to her surroundings as ‘...’ showed at the bottom of her screen.

_ Akira: We haven’t found any new targets. _

_ Akira: Want to go out? _

It took everything Sumire had not to gasp. Did… Did he really just ask that? ‘But… But that doesn’t make sense. And why am I getting so worked up about this?’ Her teacher facing away still, Sumire forcefully shook her head twice and looked back down at her phone.

_ Senpai? _

_ Akira: To study, I mean. _

Sumire’s hands were shaking, and she let out a small, undetectable sigh, or at least she hoped. Her cheeks were red hot, and she was praying that none of her classmates would notice, let alone her teacher. ‘Calm down, Sumire. You’ve already gone out with him multiple times, and- Wait, what am I thinking?! We’re just friends!’

_ Akira: So? _

‘Just… keep it together, Sumire.’

_ Oh! I would really appreciate that, Senpai! Thank you! _

_ Akira: Don’t mention it. I’ll come up to your classroom after school. _

_ Okay! _

Despite her body trembling and her face still burning up, Sumire cracked a small smile. She slipped her phone back into her pocket and looked back upwards, and while she still found it hard to pay attention, she felt prepared to go through the rest of the day. She was caught off guard by Akira, but she was grateful to him. ‘I have something to look forward to now… Thank you, Senpai.’

* * *

“Sumire, let’s go.”

Instantly pushing herself to sit straight up, Sumire looked over to see Akira standing in the doorway of her class. In an instant, her tired eyes lit up as she quickly grabbed her bag and lunchbox, and she swiftly made her way towards her only friend while ignoring her classmates' loud and fearful comments.

“Okay, Senpai!” Sumire happily stared up at Akira as he stood to the side, allowing her to move through the doorway. Just at a glance she could see the exhaustion that had been plaguing him ever since the fight with Kamoshida’s Shadow was nearly gone, and as they walked she noticed the same thing with the lethargy he moved around with. “You look a lot better, Senpai.”

Akira looked down and nodded towards her. “About time too. I was wondering if I would ever fully heal for a few days there, but I’m almost there.”

“I’m happy,” Sumire stated as she stared forward, stepping off the stairs and moving towards the entrance with Akira.

“About what?”

“You’re getting better.” Sumire turned her attention back upwards with a smile as her body practically carried her to the station without her having to pay attention. The day was fairly pleasant, the sun shining down on the two. However, her cheerful demeanor dropped moderately as Akira shook his head.

“It was going to happen eventually,” was all he said. Sumire wanted to respond, to tell him that he shouldn’t be so nonchalant about his health, but they had entered into and meshed with the large crowd in the station as she opened her mouth and knew that anything she said would be drowned out by the constant loud hum of the bystanders around them.

‘What does he mean by that? He should be happy about it as well,’ Sumire thought, stealing a few glances upwards at the stoic teen as they sat in silence on the crowded train. ‘He’s been waiting for so long to be fully recovered. So have I, so why isn’t he more relieved?’

“Let’s go.” 

“Huh?”

Sumire blinked rapidly, her thoughts being pushed to the side as she looked up to see Akira staring calmly down at her with his hand outstretched. It was then that Sumire also noticed the passengers on the train exiting the train, and her mind quickly put two and two together. Despite her best efforts, her heart began beating harder as she reached up and grasped Akira’s hand, even more so as he seemingly effortlessly lifted her out of her seat.

“T-Thank you, Akira-senpai,” Sumire shyly smiled as she was eye level with her best friend, who only gave her a nod as he released her hand and turned towards the open door right next to them. Her face fell as she quickly followed after Akira’s back.

‘I still don’t like this feeling… Why does it always happen to me when I’m around Senpai?’ With every step, Sumire tried valiantly to fight back against her tightening chest, and luckily a few deep breaths assisted in calming her heart down. However, she was so preoccupied with her heavy eyes and empty stomach that she didn’t see Akira stop until it was too late.

“Ah!” She squeaked, bouncing lightly off of his strong back. Before she could stumble backwards too far, she quickly got her feet back underneath her, regaining her balance. “I-I’m sorry, Senpai!”

“Are you okay? You’ve been quiet.” As Sumire looked up, she saw that her bumping into Akira barely made him move at all. Instead, he was just looking over his shoulder, his brow raised and his commanding eyes staring directly at her. 

Sumire quickly found her own eyes dashing off of Akira, and she instantly recognized the place they were at from the surrounding crowd and the walls of shops on either side of the road. However, it didn’t prove an effective distraction for very long, not with Akira’s gaze boring through her skull like that. She knew he was waiting on an answer, but her body was acting up again and she didn’t know if it would allow her. Adding her utter exhaustion on top of that, and…

“Sumire?”

It wasn’t very often that Sumire heard Akira speak with such concern, his usually steady voice mired with brief moments of apprehension, but Sumire heard them. Somehow, someway, her body began to calm once again, staring with her hands. As her heart began to return to normal within a few moments, Sumire managed to bring her eyes back towards Akira’s. His eyes matched his voice; concern breaking through their glazed over exterior, and Sumire allowed a slight smile onto her face.

“Sorry, Senpai. I just… got caught up in my thoughts…” Sumire eventually said, holding her gaze steady with Akira’s grey eyes. “I’m okay.”

“Good,” Akira nodded, gripping his bag as he pivoted towards the entrance to the diner in one motion. “Let’s head in.”

Grabbing hold of her own bag and lunchbox, Sumire did just that, following Akira into the diner that they had frequented so often. They found themselves a table quickly, ordering their food and drink, and were soon left alone as the waitress went off with their order with Sumire getting three stacks of pancakes, a steak, and two frui-teas while Akira simply ordered a coffee.

“Senpai, is… is that enough?” Sumire asked timidly, her hands playing with her skirt. Akira was staring right at her, she could feel it, and her heart began beating quicker once again.

“I should be asking you the opposite. I know that you’re a gymnast, but are you sure you’ll be able to eat that much?” Akira asked, and just then a loud rumble came from below the table. Sumire’s face erupted, her glasses magnifying her widening orbs as she stared down at the table out of sheer embarrassment.

“M-Mhm…” She nodded, figuring that was the only thing she could do. Her eyes were heavy, an awful combination with the intense hunger she was under.

“Did you eat enough today?”

Sumire shook her head after a brief moment, Akira’s eyes once again setting her on edge. She couldn’t lie, not even if she wanted to, especially with her stomach growling louder and louder every few seconds.

“You look tired as well. Did you stay up last night?”

“U-Um… Yes, I did…” Sumire muttered, barely holding back a yawn. She tried lifting her head just to meet Akira’s eyes, but she underestimated just how tired she was as her head felt like it was filled with sand. “I tried my best to study as much as I could, but I feel like I can’t remember anything right now…”

“Eat first, then you can worry about that later,” Akira leaned back in the booth, though his eyes were still locked onto Sumire as she finally was able to glance upwards at him. “Speaking of which…”

Sumire tried to follow Akira’s gaze as he looked to her left, but her movements were so sluggish that her drinks were placed in front of her and the waitress was moving away before she could even register what was going on.

“Senpai, are you… really okay with just coffee?” Sumire asked, picking up the closest frui-tea to her. Her eyes were locked onto Akira calmly sipping his drink, awaiting the answer to her question, but her stomach couldn’t bear anymore waiting. The instant the drink entered her mouth, Sumire felt a surge of energy throughout her body. Although her exhaustion was nowhere near gone, her empty stomach was satiated, at least for the moment.

“Don’t drink it all at once, Sumire,” Akira’s voice rang in Sumire’s head for a few moments before her eyes widened, and she looked down to see her nearly empty glass in her hand. “Though, how are you feeling now? You seem better now, even after that one drink.”

Sumire’s head flopped up and down, the sand within it still very much present as her eyes continued fighting downwards. “Yeah, it…” Sumire yawned, bringing her petite hand up to her mouth before looking over at Akira taking another sip of his coffee. “It did hel- Wait Senpai, you still haven’t answered my question! Are you really going to be okay with just…” Another yawn came from Sumire, “... just coffee?”

“I don’t eat that much, and I’m not too hungry right now,” Akira shrugged. Sumire tried to open her mouth in an attempt to argue back, but was interrupted by their waitress appearing at the head of the table.

“Here you two are.” With a smile, the waitress nodded at Sumire and then at Akira before disappearing further into the cafe. Sumire wanted to continue pushing Akira, to try and get him to eat something but her nostrils were filled to the brim with the delicious scent of her pancakes and steak, drawing her mind away from Akira as drool nearly spilled from her mouth. She couldn’t hold herself back any longer as she picked up her knife and fork and began carving her way through the four plates of food in front of her. 

The food itself barely had any flavor to it, or at least Sumire couldn’t be bothered to notice as she scarfed down her pancakes. Nothing else mattered to her in that moment; even Akira disappeared from her mind as she focused only on her slowly filling stomach and the quickly vanishing food in front of her. Not a moment passed where either a piece of food or her Frui-Tea wasn’t in Sumire’s mouth with the next piece quickly following after the current one went down. She was so engrossed in her food that the little flavors that she tasted mixed together, but even then she didn’t care. Her mind was still slow and her body groggy, her eyelids attempting to fall numerous times as she feasted, but Sumire had never felt this feeling before. Meals were planned out in advance and she never missed one in her entire life. She had felt hungry before, but never like today.

However, the world around her sprung back to life as her fork hit porcelain, the clinking noise snapping her mind back to reality. Blinking rapidly, Sumire quickly realized what had happened as her cheeks burned bright red. She felt Akira’s gaze on her, but she couldn’t bring herself to match his eyes with her own.

‘He probably thinks I’m weird… I totally ignored him while I was eating to- Wait, when did my lunchbox get onto the table? And why is there another plate in front of me?’ Sumire thought, and her head quickly shot upwards as a singular chuckle came from her friend.

“Senpai?” She asked nervously, but her brow creased as she saw Akira’s face. He was just looking back at her, an amused look all over his face and within his grey orbs.

“You didn’t notice until now, huh?” Another chuckle came from Akira, but then Sumire watched as his features turned serious with his eyes sharpening. “You can’t study on an empty stomach, Sumire.”

“Senpai, did… did you put my lunchbox in front of me?”

“Yeah,” Akira nodded, and Sumire looked downwards.

“I… I didn’t even notice. And where did this plate come from?” Sumire asked, unable to meet Akira’s eyes once again as she just stared amazedly at how clean each one was.

“I got you an extra stack.”

“Y-You did?!” Again, her eyes shot up to Akira, this time ignoring the feeling rising within her chest. “Senpai, you didn’t have to do that!”

“I know I didn’t,” Akira replied calmly, his face softening as he leaned back in his seat. “You were still hungry, I could see that, and I want you to feel better.”

Mouth hanging open, Sumire stared at her Akira as he took a small sip of his coffee before setting the empty cup onto the table. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing; he really did something like that? For her?

“What are you struggling with, Sumire?”

“T-That you would do something like t–”

“No, I meant what Subject,” Akira clarified, and Sumire’s already hot cheeks grew slightly hotter.

“O-Oh, um… Math, Senpai…” Sumire reached over to her bag, painfully aware of her hands shaking, and placed her Math textbook and notebook onto the table in between her and Akira. Most other times just the sight of the two in front of her would fill her with dread, but this time the feeling was completely gone with Akira’s gaze on them as well.

“You’re in Algebra…” Akira muttered to himself. Sumire simply nodded, silently flipping to the practice problems in the back of the book and began with a question she had been working on before. Her stomach full, Sumire felt like she could now concentrate better than earlier in the day, remembering some of what she had studied the days prior, and got through numerous questions. She looked up occasionally to see Akira fixated on her notebook, and felt a slight pang of guilt in her chest.

‘I asked him to come help me, but now he’s not even doing anything because I’m remembering how to do it…’ Sumire pursed her lips as she quickly looked back down at her text book, but her guilt quickly vanished as her eyes squinted with her brain working overtime. ‘How… How do I do this one? Should I ask Senpai? No… What if it’s a really easy one? Then I’ll just embarrass myself in front of hi–’

“Do you need help with a question?”

“A-Ah!” Sumire yelped, her head flying to the left immediately. She instantly regretted it as she was inches away from Akira’s face as he stared down at her notebook. Only to make things worse, his hand gently brushed up against hers as he reached over and took hold of her pencil as she simply let it go while her mind went blank.

“Here, I’ll help show you how to do it,” Akira remained calm, his face unmoving as he dragged Sumire’s notebook in between the two. Sumire, however, felt like she was on fire, or at least her face was. 

‘He’s too close! But… I need to try and pay attention!’ Sumire exclaimed inwardly, and she tried to take a deep breath in as discreetly as she could to try and steady her heart. It didn’t work as well as she hoped, though, as her eyes continued darting to the boy right next to her. Her previously empty mind became cluttered with similar thoughts, and her heart sped right back up. However, she still managed to hold her attention steady enough to follow Akira’s instructions despite the funny feeling twisting and turning within her gut.

Watching Akira work was incredible; it was almost like he was in a different world. His eyes were focused as he wrote quickly, all while explaining everything he did in great detail. Every moment she watched, Sumire found herself becoming more and more engrossed in how he taught. Everything he did made sense, and with his explanations Sumire found herself nodding along as she could see the simplicity in the question she previously thought to be difficult. 

‘It’s almost like how he is in the Metaverse,’ Sumire thought, her body relaxing once again. However, the way his hand glided over the page so smoothly was too soothing to Sumire, and before long she found her eyes sinking. Even his voice was peaceful to her, and her heart began to slow more and more as the world began to dim. 

She was face to face with Akira outside in a place she didn’t recognize with her surroundings blurred, but Sumire didn’t mind that at all as she stared deep into Akira’s eyes. He was smiling back at her, his bright face reaching his eyes as the grey orbs sparkled in the sunlight. Neither of them said a word to one another. Sumire knew that neither of them needed to, and she felt her heart beating rhythmically in her chest. Just the sight alone of him smiling was more than enough for her, but being so close to him made it all the better.

‘I’m the only one who gets to see this, right?’ She thought, desperately wanting to ask that of him. However, as she tried opening her mouth, nothing came out. She tried again, but nothing came out again. ‘Why can’t I talk?’ Just as she was about to give up and look away in embarrassment, Akira’s eyes glimmered in the sunlight as his hand made its way under her chin. The sheer warmth coming from it was enough to shock her entire body, and her lips parted slightly as Akira brought her face back up to his own. 

In that moment she expected her heart to nearly explode, but it didn’t. Instead, only her cheeks grew warm as Akira’s smile continued growing and growing, becoming the only thing she could concentrate on. Then, slowly, she felt her face being pulled closer towards Akira’s, but still she remained calm. Closer and closer the two got, and Sumire found her eyes closing as she took in a shallow breath, waiting for… something. She wasn’t sure what exactly, but Akira was planning something. And she was ex...d for i...

“...mire…”

“Hmm...?”

“Sumire...”

“Huh?” Sumire’s eyes fluttered open slowly. The feeling of Akira’s hand underneath her head, lightly guiding her chin upwards was still there, but his hand wasn’t, and neither was the peaceful environment she had seen but was blurry. Instead, she felt her head resting on something strong, slowly rising up and down. This object was also somewhat boney and curved, but she could also feel a great amount of warmth coming from and around it. ‘Wasn’t I standing up as well? What’s happening?’

“Sumire, could you get up?”

Sumire froze. Akira’s voice was right in her ear, rattling around in her mind as it began speeding. As her vision cleared, she could see that the diner around her was horizontal, and she could feel her long, red hair draped across something underneath her. First her chest began tightening, then her eyes widened, and finally her cheeks burst with red hot flames before she fully realized where she was. With an “eep”, she flung herself to the right, bumping into the diner wall. She could feel the other people around her look over with their judgmental eyes, but she could hardly pay that any mind as she began sputtering.

“S-Senpai! I-I’m so sorry!” She managed to shout as she turned towards her friend, throwing her hands in front of her wildly as she didn’t want him to see her like that. “I-I don’t know what happened! My eyes just fell, and-and-and…”

“Sumrie, calm down.” Instantly, Sumire stopped. Her heart was racing, feeling like it could burst out of her chest any minute, and her eyes were trained onto Akira. Then, the feeling of his hand underneath her chin returned in full force, and she felt like she could die from the sheer hotness emanating from her cheeks. Nonetheless, Akira continued on. “You’re tired and you just ate a lot, so maybe we should stop for today. You already have a good grasp of most of the concepts so far.”

Sumire attempted to respond, but as she started she knew that nothing would come out. Or at least, nothing that would make sense to Akira. ‘What… What did I just do? That was a dream, right? Senpai looked so… happy, and so was I. I… even closed my eyes, waiting for him to do… something. I… don’t know what though...’ Sumire’s mind raced. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to see it again and again. However, as she thought, she felt movement from her left, and her heart dipped slightly as she saw Akira begin to get up. 

“U-Um… S-Senpai?” Sumire winced at her own voice, quivering from just the single word.

“What’s up?” Akira turned, his bag in his hand.

“C-Could we… stay here a bit longer?” Sumire asked, her eyes falling to the table. She still felt exhausted, especially now with her stomach full, but… she didn’t want to leave just yet, not after what her mind just showed her. “We… We won’t be able to be together much this week with exams… so…”

“Alright.” 

“H-Huh?” Sumire looked up just in time to see Akira find his seat opposite of her again. 

“I don’t have much else to do tonight, so I’m fine talking some more,” Akira said matter-of-factly. Sumire felt her control over her heart grow more concrete, the intense pounding in her chest lessening with every breath she took, and she managed to crack a smile at Akira while pushing the micro dream she just had into the vault of her mind. She could think about that later.

“T-Thank you,” she whispered, and she felt relief flow through her body upon hearing her voice returning to normal. “How’s your studying going, Senpai?”

“Good.”

“I’m glad. Um… Have you talked with that Mishima person yet? About that note he placed in your desk, I mean.”

“No.”

Sumire began fiddling with her thumbs; why was he just responding with one word answers? As a sudden silence fell between the two, Sumire’s eyes lit up as her mind landed on something. “Oh! Senpai, what did you think um… Nakanohara, was it? What do you think he meant when he asked us to change Madarame’s heart?”

This seemed to gain Akira’s attention as Sumire watched him lean forward with their eyes meeting. “It may have just been him trying to put the blame on someone else, but that’s unlikely.”

Sumire tilted her head and frowned at her friend. “What do you mean, Senpai?”

“As far as it’s been explained to me, Shadows are someone’s true self. I can imagine they can lie, cheat, and steal more than their counterparts, but just at a glance… Nakanohara wasn’t that type of guy.”

Sumire opened her mouth, about to respond, but then she stopped. Akira was looking down at the table, and she could just barely make out a hint of sadness when she pieced everything together. ‘Nakanohara felt abandoned by his ex-girlfriend after he was betrayed… Just like Senpai…’

“I haven’t had much time, but I might check out who this Madarame is. I only gleaned from a quick search that he was a well known artist, but nothing else really.”

“Why though, Senpai?” Sumire flinched back slightly; she didn’t mean to let that slip, and she wasn’t expecting Akira to look up at her so quickly.

“What do you mean?” Akira asked this time, and Sumire had to avert her eyes again. She couldn’t handle his gaze, not now and especially not the state her own mind put her in.

“Um… Well, you initially didn’t want to do this… Becoming a Phantom Thief, I mean, so I guess…”

“Why am I bothering to look into him?” Akira finished her sentence, and Sumire just nodded. “You’re right that I didn’t want to do this. If it was entirely up to me, I would have just left everything after dealing with Kamoshida, but it wasn’t. Or at least not entirely.” Akira leaned forward, and Sumire felt her gaze being forced back up to him as he stared up at the diner’s ceiling.

“Senpai? I… I don’t understand…” Sumire muttered, and raised her eyebrows as Akira shook his head and let out a chuckle.

“I don’t either. But we formed this group and I’m the leader, so I’m not half-assing anything,” Akira paused, and Sumire could see a wistful look in his grey eyes. “I’m not in this to help anyone or to get famous. Both of those ideals don’t appeal to me, but…” Akira looked down at his torn up hand while Sumire could only watch in awe. “There’s something else in me, something that is out to hurt me. Exploring Palaces and Mementos can help with that, so finding targets will help further my goal. It’s a selfish goal.”

Sumire was still confused, even after Akira’s explanation; Akira definitely said that it wasn’t entirely up to him, but he just listed reasons for why he’s doing it. ‘Is it because of Morgana? I… I don’t think so, but what else could it be?’

“What about you, Sumire?”

“Huh?”

Akira leaned even further onto the table, drawing closer and closer towards Sumire. “I want to know why you wanted to do this. I know it wasn’t for fame, but I can see you doing it to help others. You’re a better person than me, after all.”

“I don’t think that’s true, Senpai,” Sumire said, closing her eyes before shaking her head. She wanted him to stop saying stuff like that, but now wasn’t the time. “Of course I want to help people, but… after seeing what Kamoshida put you through and what you told me about what happened earlier this year, I realized that there are evil people out there. Maybe this is self-absorbed, but I also want to show those people what they’re doing is wrong, that they’re hurting others.” Prying her tired eyes back open, Sumire found it nearly impossible to look at Akira. There was another reason, she knew that. She just wasn’t sure how to put it. “And… um… I also wanted to do it t… he...p you…”

Sumire desperately wanted to hide her face, to run away, to go back home; anything to get the strange feeling taking hold in her chest out as she stared in Akira’s eyes. Even worse, that dream, still fresh in her mind, resurfaced, taking place in the forefront of her brain. But she couldn’t look away, not with everything going on within her head, and she watched as Akira raised his eyebrows before closing his eyes, a small grin flashing onto his face for just a brief moment. As soon as the moment came, it was gone, and Sumire’s eyes followed Akira upwards as he moved to his feet.

“I appreciate that, Sumire,” Akira spoke calmly, and Sumire closed her eyes as she braced herself for what was going to come next. However, as she waited, it became obvious that her expectations weren’t going to come to fruition, and her eyelids slowly crept back up to see Akira half-smiling back at her. “It’s starting to get late, so we should get going. Oh, and don’t worry about the bill.”

“What?!” Eyes widened, Sumire’s hand flew to her mouth. “W-Why did you do that, Senpai?”

“I had the money, and I was the one that invited you out in the first place,” Akira shrugged as he slung his bag over his shoulder, standing at the head of the table. “Make sure you rest up tonight, okay Sumire?”

“O-Okay…” Sumire nodded, her hand falling limp onto her lap. However, she shook her head violently as Akira began walking towards the door and jumped to her feet, chasing close behind him. “Senpai, wait for me!”

* * *

‘Sumire has practice today, and I have exams starting tomorrow…’ Akira leaned back in the seat on the rooftop, feet up on the desk as he stared up at the cloud-filled skies. ‘I don’t need to study anymore, but I’m not going back to Leblanc this early just to have Morgana talk in my ear for the entire day. And we can’t go into Mementos either… I guess I’m staying here in the meantime.’

“Yo, there you are!”

‘Now this…’ Akira groaned internally as he brought his legs down and found himself staring at Ryuji as he quickly approached, the rooftop door closing behind him. “I’m almost always up here. I’m not hard to find.”

“Right, and Sumire’s off practicin’ right now as well. We don’t have any targets either and you look bored, so how about we do some training?” Ryuji’s face was covered with poorly masked excitement. “After goin’ to that place last Friday, I’ve been itchin’ to get back to running. So, how about it?”

“Exams start tomorrow,” Akira replied. His eyes remained unblinking, coldness creeping into the grey orbs, but Ryuji seemed to be unaffected.

“So? I’m usually fine for those!” Ryuji exclaimed, and Akira let out a sigh.

“What’s ‘fine’ in your book?” 

“Passin’.”

“Figured…” With a grunt, Akira got to his feet and shook his head. “I don’t care if you fail any of them, just don’t bring any unnecessary attention onto us.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I got that. Anyways, you joining me or what?” Ryuji’s grin didn’t fall as Akira turned to and began moving towards the door. “You’re not doin’ anything right now, and you did say that you would once you were better.”

“I said I would think about it,” Akira fired back instantly.

“Well, have you thought about it?” Ryuji’s footsteps grew louder as Akira felt him grow closer from behind. “C’mon, we can both get faster! It’ll help out in the Metaverse too, right? You always seem amped up or in the zone when we’re fightin’ something, so I think you would want to get stronger out here, yeah?”

Akira wanted to grit his teeth, to tighten his fists, but he wasn’t irritated. He knew Ryuji was right; doing any work out here would help in the Metaverse, and he does want to get stronger. With another sigh, this one lighter and shorter than the last, Akira looked over his shoulder to see Ryuji’s face light up even more. “Fine, lead the way.” Akira barely had any time to step out of the way as Ryuji rushed towards the door, nearly knocking the teen over as he shook his head slowly. ‘How the hell does this keep happening?’ Akira asked himself for what felt like the thousandth time, but he quickly freed himself from those thoughts as he followed after the easily excitable blond.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Ryuji shouted, his arm pumped out in front of him as he stood in the center of the Courtyard. Both teens were dressed in their red gym uniforms, which Akira despised.

“Would have packed a change of clothes if I knew we were doing this…” he grumbled, lifting his right arm into the air to inspect the overly heavy jacket. “It’s bulky and nearly impossible to move around in.”

“I here ya man. Why don’t you just throw it over there?” Ryuji pointed towards a nearby bench, but Akira didn’t bother moving his gaze as he shook his head.

“Let’s just start.”

“But why not just take it o–”

Akira’s gaze turned cold in a single moment as he forced all his anger and fear into his eyes along with the words ‘Drop it’. Luckily, Ryuji seemed to actually understand as his eyes grew and he gulped, and Akira dropped his gaze towards his arm once again. His body was still sore; he could feel it strain with every move he took, but he couldn’t sit around anymore. Closing his eyes and letting out a sigh, Akira looked back up at Ryuji and nodded curtly. “Let’s start.”

Ryuji promptly took Akira through a series of stretches and warmups in the Courtyard, ranging from quad stretches where they pulled their legs up behind them to forward lunges. Then, after Akira was good and stretched and his blood was flowing, Ryuji led him to the concrete walkway. “All right, I’m gonna do some knee lift sprints. You’re gonna be stuck doin’ the normal ones, ‘kay?”

Akira simply nodded, his hands on his hips as he steadied his already rapid breathing. His body had definitely seen better days, with his legs shaking slightly and his arms feeling heavy for some reason. With the few students in the Courtyard watching, Akira and Ryuji set out to do their sprints, the former quickly finding that he had overestimated just how much he had recovered.

Every time he would push off one leg, a small spark of pain would shoot up from his foot to his hip, but Akira kept at it. He saw Ryuji next to him wincing every time he landed on his right leg, but there was a strong light within his eyes. It was like he was determined to finish out the sprints he had set for him to do, and seeing him like that brought a similar feeling out of Akira.

‘This is stupid…’ Akira thought as he came to a stop before pushing off the ground with his right leg, going down the straight once again. ‘I should have stopped earlier… My legs are burning and I can’t catch my breath, but… I can’t stop. Not while he keeps going.’

In the end, the two ran the straight down and back a total of ten times. While Akira wanted to collapse as he and Ryuji moved onto the grass, he forced his normally calm composure to return, wiping away the sweat that had formed on his brow before placing his hands behind his head.

“Damn… I’m so… out of shape…” Ryuji panted, pushing off his knees and straightening himself to meet Akira’s gaze. The blond, despite clearly being exhausted and in a decent amount of pain shown through his strained face, was grinning at Akira. “Seems like… you liked it… huh?”

“It was good practice,” Akira shrugged, his hands finding their way into his pockets as he held Ryuji’s eyes. “You were right that this would help.”

“Dude, can’t you at least pretend to be tired?” Ryuji groaned, wiping off the remained of the sweat covering his forehead as well. “Oh well, I could see you strugglin’ back there. How’re you holdin’ up? With your body, y’know…”

“It’s annoying as hell,” Akira found himself saying, emulating Ryuji as he also pulled his legs back to stretch his quads. “Thought I was getting better, but I still need to heal some more.”

“I feel ya, man. Though… my injury didn’t happen quite the same way as yours,” Ryuji chuckled, though his face showed Akira a much different story as the blond looked up at the sky with a distant look in his eyes. “Do… Do you think Kamoshida got off too easy?”

“Are you regretting letting him live?” Akira asked bluntly after a moment of shock, and Ryuji shook his head.

“Nah, I know that that wouldn’t be right. Just… he ruined so many people’s lives.”

“His is ruined now as well.” Akira kept his eyes steady as Ryuji’s eyes returned down to meet them, and another conflicted laugh came from the blond.

“I guess you’re right. I just… Somethin’ about it isn’t sitting well with me. I think I wish he knew it was us that did it.”

“I’m sure he does,” Akira responded, allowing his cold demeanor to fall as his eyes softened. “Not a day will go by where he doesn’t think about what he did to you and feel horrified.”

Akira watched calmly as Ryuji’s mouth slowly began opening with his eyes filling with shock. He patiently waited as the blond just stared back at him, amazement creeping onto his face as a more light hearted chuckle emanated from him. “You’re right, man. I gotta stop worryin’ about that shit now that’s he’s gone, but… hearin’ you say that made me realize how much shit he’s actually in. Thanks, Akira.”

Akira just shook his head slightly and began turning away from Ryuji. “Don’t mention it.”

“Man, you somehow keep doin’ this.” Ryuji placed his hands on his hips and let out a long sigh that broke into chuckles.

Akira raised an eyebrow as he stopped turning. “Doing what?” 

“You know the right thing to say to make me feel like everything will be alright. I can’t really explain it that much further.”

Akira’s eyes landed back on Ryuji as he moved his head backwards to see an amazed smile on his face, but he quickly returned them forward towards the glass door. “We both know I didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah, well, still doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it man,” Ryuji said, and Akira found himself standing next to him as the blond jogged forward. However, Ryuji’s grin quickly fell as he ripped out his phone, and Akira barely masked his confusion as the blond’s face turned pale. “Oh shit, it’s already this late?! I gotta head back, man, or my mom will kill me! I’ll catch you later!”

With that, Akira was left alone, watching as the blond speedster rushed through Shujin towards the entrance. However, it didn’t really feel that way as he began walking. It was strange, but despite how heavy Akira’s body felt, there was a slight spring to his step. Even though he quickly ceased the action immediately, he was in a much better mood than he usually ever was except when he was with Sumire. 

Pushing his way out the entrance doors, Akira was met with the cloudy skies once again, and he began walking towards the station. His hands in his pocket, he was allowed some time to think more as there were no bystanders around him, and he allowed his sore body to carry him to the usual platform.

‘That wasn’t half bad. Maybe… I wouldn’t mind doing that again with him, at least when Sumire has practice. Though the next couple of days will be busy with exams and all.’ Akira walked onto the train heading towards Shibuya station, grabbing hold of a handle on the ceiling while ignoring the large crowd around him. ‘Sumire seemed to have a good grasp on what she said was her toughest Subject, Math, but Ryuji and Ann…’ A small grin flashed onto his face, something he quickly wiped off as he got off the train. ‘Well, as long as they don’t fail, I’m fine with what they get.’

* * *

“I can’t believe this… A school assembly? During exam week? The hell are they thinking?”

“Ugh, I can’t believe the school is messing up our schedules like this…”

“I don’t care what it’s about- It’s gonna have nothing to do with us students. I wish they’d stop dragging us into their mes–”

The girl that was speaking suddenly seized up, fear filling her eyes as Akira approached the bulletin board. In fact, all of the students gathered around it did the same, scrambling just to move out of his way while whispers of “What does he want?” and “Where’s that demon girl?” floating around him. However, after a quick glance at the announcement, Akira simply let out a light scoff before turning on his heels. 

‘Friday, huh? Doesn’t matter at all for me, so I don’t care,’ he thought as he walked upstairs and into his classroom. Without a sound, Akira made his way to his seat and took a quick surveyance around him. Around only half of the class was there, with Ann still not there as indicated by the empty seat in front of him, and Akira pulled out his phone to see there was still around five minutes before exams would actually begin. However, just as he moved to slip it back into his pocket, his phone lit up.

_ Ryuji: Damn, why the hell do we got an assembly on Friday? Like exam week isn’t tough enough already… _

_ Sumire: Maybe you could use the time to rest your mind? It sounds like you’re worrying a lot, Ryuji-senpai. _

_ Ryuji: Nah, not really. _

_ Sumire: Huh? _

_ Ann: Shit… Hey Akira, have we started yet? _

_ No _

_ Ann: Thank god… _

_ Ryuji: You too, eh? _

_ Ann: Shut up! _

_ Sumire: I’m lost… _

_ They’re both late, and neither bothered to study. _

_ Ryuji: Dude, don’t have to sell me out like that!  _

_ Ryuji: But… yeah. _

_ Ann: How did you know that was the case for me? _

_ Just the way you reacted. _

_ Sumire: Well… I hope you two do alright with your exams! _

_ Sumire: You too, Senpai! But I think you don’t need me to wish you luck, seeing how easily you helped me with studying. _

_ Ryuji: Akira! Why didn’t you help me out yesterday, man?! _

_ Sumire: Yesterday? _

A second scoff came from Akira as he slid his phone back into his pants, his eyes lazily turning towards his teacher that just entered.

“We have one minute before we begin,” he announced and, almost right after he finished, a stream of students came trickling into the room, Ann included in the midst of them all. 

“Barely… made it…” Ann puffed as she plopped into her seat and she looked back at Akira. “So, are you ready?”

“Probably,” Akira shrugged, not bothering to make eye contact with the blonde as the teacher began moving around with a stack of papers in his hands.

“Sumire said that you were good at studying. I wish I knew that, I might have asked you for some hel–” Before Ann could continue, the teacher forcefully placed the paper on her desk then onto Akira’s. He clearly tried to frown at Akira, but the teen’s simple stare won easily as the teacher quickly turned and moved towards the front of the room.

“A-Alright, let’s begin!” Akira nearly smirked at the shakiness in the teacher’s voice, but a quick blink set him straight once again as he looked down at his first exam. 

‘History first, huh?’ Akira let out a sigh, cracked his neck, and went to work. He liked History; in fact, it was one of the few classes that he actually bothered to pay any attention to. In addition, he had done a good deal of personal studying in his own time, so questions like “What historical figure inspired the idiom of ‘favoring the magistrate’?” and “Provide the reason why Minamoto no Yoshitsune is viewed as a hero.” were simple to him, and he finished with plenty of time to spare.

The next day, however, was Math and Science, and while Akira found most of the topics both Subjects covered there were still problem areas for him. His still-tired body wasn’t helping either, spreading towards his mind and interrupting his ability to think properly. On top of all that, there was the sudden assembly that he was being forced to go to after the exams, and more than once throughout the math section his mind would wander towards his favorite redhead.

‘Not now…’ Akira grunted internally, squeezing his eyes shut in a futile attempt to shake the surprisingly clear memory of them in the cafe out of his mind. The feel of Sumire’s head against his shoulder, her left arm brushed up against his right, along with her soft hair draped across his upper body. However, those were only outward things he felt in that moment, but Akira vividly remembered how his gut felt. It was strange; it was like it was twisting but not, with his heart above it beating slightly faster. Though he was able to stop any internal abnormalities in a blink of an eye, he was still confused in that moment, but was distracted as he heard Sumire breathing lightly next to him and looked downwards to see her peacefully resting. Then, a small smile cracked onto his face, and he just returned to his refilled coffee.

‘Dammit…’ Akira fought valiantly to clear his mind as he blinked rapidly, and he saw that he only had around ten minutes left to complete around fourth of the exam. Sumire was still very much present within his mind, but Akira knew that he just needed to get it done and then he would have two more days left to go through.

Friday would prove to be the toughest day of exams. Akira just found that he couldn’t concentrate at all, even with one of the Subjects he was most proficient in being Social Studies. For some ungodly reason, every time he would blink Sumire would be waiting for him with a full smile on her face. However, that wasn’t the irritating part; in fact, nothing about it was irritating, which in turn set Akira slightly on edge. Every moment he stared back at his best friend, he found himself wanting to stay there longer. He simply just used his already bountiful knowledge of Social Studies to carry him through the exam, forcing his mind to refocus every few seconds just to find it wandering away again.

“Alright, pencils down!” The teacher exclaimed at the front of the room, and Akira found himself so relieved that he nearly let his pencil fall out of his hand as his arms relaxed all the way from his shoulders to his fingertips. “Now, if you will, please head to the gymnasium for the assembly.”

Though Akira was still sore and tired, he was the first to get up and move out of the classroom and towards the staircase. He just wanted to get out in front of everyone else; his mind was clouded enough, he didn’t need those morons cluttering it even more with their driv–

“Senpai!”

A smile nearly popped onto Akira’s face as the single word reached his ears, but he didn’t bother to stop moving. The footsteps rapidly approaching him were already moving far quicker than he was, and the half grin that had pulled one side of his lips upwards only grew as the head of red hair appeared beside him. Although he quickly wiped it off with a solid shake of his head, he knew that the light from the smile was still within his eyes, at least somewhat, as he looked over and downwards.

“How’re exams going, Sumire?” Even without receiving an answer, Akira was happy with it. He could tell that she was in a good mood; she looked well rested and preppy as she practically bounced down the stairs.

“I’m doing okay! Math was still difficult, but everything else is pretty easy,” Sumire responded as the two reached the bottom floor. “How about you, Akira-senpai?”

Akira shook his head, clearly to Sumire’s surprise as she tilted her head to the side and scrunched her face towards him. “First day started good enough, but everyday I feel like I can’t concentrate more and more.”

“Are… Are you thinking about anything else, Senpai? Is…” Sumire looked around before turning back up to Akira, concern clear on her face. “Is it about Madarame? Did you find something?”

“No, that’s not it…” Akira let out a sigh; he knew he just had to say it as he didn’t want to make her anymore worried about him. “I was thinking about you. Wondering if you were okay with your exams and all. I’m happy that you’re doing well.”

Pushing himself forward into the gymnasium, Akira felt the familiar presence no longer beside him. However, he just kept walking; he knew Sumire, and he knew that pushing her when she got like that would only make it worse. Luckily, it didn’t take long for the small footsteps to approach from behind him once again, and a quick glance gave Akira the information that he expected. Her cheeks were rosy, but other than that she was fine as a small smile helped put him at ease.

The two waited patiently as the rest of the students began flooding into the gymnasium around them, though a sizable ring formed around Akira and Sumire where no students would go into. Akira was honestly okay with that, and it hardly even mattered as a sudden movement on stage caught his attention, and his eyes followed the egg-shaped principal slowly making his way towards the sole microphone on stage.

“Ahem, let’s begin,” Kobayakawa stated, clearing his throat, and Akira found himself already checked out. “Ever since that specific incident, many of you have voiced concerns that I could not bear to ignore. We believe that the mental health of our students is absolutely vital, so we’ve acquired the services of a therapist.”

‘Yeah right, like this shithole would ever care about us,’ Akira growled internally, making sure to not let most of his scowl show outwardly.

“The floor is yours, Doctor…”

Suddenly, a gasp came from Akira’s left, causing him to whir into action and look downwards as he began to move in front of Sumire. However, instead of fear or apprehension or anything of the sort on Sumire’s face, he only saw excitement and, with a surprised frown flashing onto his face for only a brief moment, he turned back to see a young looking man wearing glasses and a white lab coat as well as sandals standing behind the microphone.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” the man greeted happily. In Akira’s confusion, he noticed a few students in front of him, female ones, whispering to one another with grins on their faces. “My name is- Huh?”

Akira watched as the teacher stared down dumbfoundedly at the microphone in front of him and leaned forwards to tap it twice. 

“My name is Takuto Maruki. Thank you for welcoming me to your school.”

The next event Akira could only describe as perfectly idiotic as this new counselor, Maruki as he just stated, attempted to bow forward only to somehow forget about the microphone in front of him and bash his forehead into the device. He resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose, instead settling on just releasing a long sigh. However, he noticed Sumire still staring forward almost in disbelief, but he didn’t have time to ask what was wrong as Maruki began once again.

“No need to be formal with me, though. I’m just here to counsel anyone who’s interested. You can even call me Doc, if that would help you feel more comfortable. Any assistance you need, I’ll be- Oh… I guess I’m not really any good for helping with money problems…”

A wave of irritation and annoyance shot through Akira as the same group of girls began giggling loudly, way more than for what that… joke(?) deserved. However, the feeling didn’t last long as Kobayakawa practically pushed Maruki aside, and Akira found himself spacing out again until the tide of students, Sumire included, began moving towards the doors. Akira simply followed after the surprisingly cheerful redhead through the school and into the Courtyard for some reason.

‘I guess there’s not many students around here…’ Akira thought, painfully unprepared for Sumire to turn around a smile sweetly up at him. However, before Sumire could speak, Akira regained his bearings enough to take a deep breath in and shake off the somehow foreign yet familiar feeling that had entered his body.

“You seemed to know him,” was all he said, to which Sumire nodded multiple times over.

“Mhm! After… um… the accident…” Sumire looked downwards for a moment, but shook her head rapidly as Akira began stepping towards her. “M-My parents wanted me to go visit him, and eventually I did go. He… did the best he could, and I’m grateful for his help.”

“He didn’t seem to help that much,” Akira said, almost too easily, and held up his hand as Sumire’s head shot up. “I’m just saying that the condition you were in when we first met was less than ideal.”

“That… That’s true…” Sumire trailed off, but her eyes didn’t go too far from Akira’s face as he watched them light back up with a strange glow. “But after meeting you, I… found a lot of what he told me to be coming true. That I would find someone to really rely on: that’s you, Senpai.” A smile found its way back onto Sumire’s face, and Akira forced himself to close his eyes and shrug slightly just to prevent his own lips from climbing any higher.

“You give others too much credit for your own accomplishments, Sumire.”

“You do too, Senpai.”

“Hm?” Eyes quickly reopening, Akira found himself face to face with Sumire once again as she stared almost defiantly up at him. However, as she opened her mouth, Akira heard footsteps casually approaching from behind him and, in one motion, flipped around to face this newcomer with Sumire behind him.

“Alright, let’s calm down… Kurusu-kun, correct?”

“What do you want with him?”

Akira looked past the new doctor standing a few feet away from him to see Ryuji and Ann approaching. Then, after a moment, he realized he was still standing in front of Sumire and moved to the side, turning back towards Maruki as the two blondes flanked him.

“Ah, Sakamoto-kun and Takamaki-san, right?”

“How do you know our names?” Ryuji asked, folding his arms and squinting his eyes at the young man. However, Akira noticed Maruki’s eyes flash with realization as he turned back towards him and Sumire, and looked down to see the same look in Sumire’s eyes.

“Yoshizawa-san! I didn’t expect to see you here!” Maruki exclaimed, but then his hand found its way behind his head as he suddenly stopped. “Oh right, you wanted to know how I knew your names. Well… I was informed of a few students before beginning my tenure here. Those that had, ah… previous interactions with Mr. Kamoshida. Kurusu-kun,” Maruki turned his head towards Akira, whose eyes sharpened slightly more, “it must’ve been especially tough for you after having just transferred here.”

“I got it worked out,” Akira nearly growled, but he didn’t seem to have the same effect on the doctor as he simply nodded his head.

“I’m glad to hear it, just don’t overdo it, okay?” Before Akira could respond, Maruki looked back at Sumire, and Akira found his gaze following him onto her as well. “Yoshizawa-san, you seem to be doing a lot better!”

“Mhm!” Sumire nodded, her smile not fading from her face as she suddenly looked up at Akira, catching him completely off guard. “Akira-senpai has helped me a lot ever since school started, and… I even went to go see her recently.”

“That’s wonderful!” Maruki exclaimed, but his excitement dropped as Ryuji took a step towards him. 

“So, whaddya want with us?” The blond asked.

“Ah yes, I’d forgotten… I know I already offered my services to the student body earlier, but would you three… well, four now, be interested in counsel–”

“No,” Akira firmly said, beginning to turn on his heels the moment he spoke.

“Huh?!” Akira heard Maruki shout behind him, but before he could continue moving he felt a slender hand grab hold of his sleeve and let out an audible groan. ‘Seriously, again with this?’

“Senpai, can’t you hear him out?” Sumire basically whispered, her voice nearly not making it to Akira’s ears, but he heard her nonetheless.

“How was that surprising to you?” Ryuji began. “Also, I’m with Akira on this one. I don’t want to do it at all.”

“I just didn’t expect him to be so emphatic with his response,” Maruki stated, and Akira let out another sigh before he turned back towards the man. “Ah, wait! How about if you come to my office, you can have free snacks! All you can eat… well, not really. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Akira kept his eyes serious with the rest of his face remaining stuck in a scowl as the doctor smiled at him.

“I’m not a child,” Akira growled, trying to ignore Sumire as she lightly clutched at his other sleeve now.

“Haha… You’re right…” the doctor chuckled, though his face dropped as he still managed to keep eye contact with Akira. “To be frank, I’ve been explicitly ordered to provide counseling to the students directly involved with Mr. Kamoshida, though I was not told anything about you, Yoshizawa-san. Were you…”

“She was,” Akira answered before Maruki had a chance to finish.

“So it’s mandatory is what you’re sayin’,” Ryuji said, sticking his hands into his pockets.

“It’s in the school’s interest… for its students.”

Akira just had to laugh at that. Though, it was more of a spat than anything else as his face remained cold while he stared at the doctor. “The school’s interest, huh? Give me a break.”

“I know that asking you to be open with a complete stranger like myself is a lot. Making this mandatory wouldn’t do you any good, either. Might as well turn it into a worthwhile experience…” Maruki trailed off, and Akira found himself perking up slightly at that. Worthwhile? “...Oh, I know! If you attend my counseling sessions, I’ll teach you different ways to improve your mental acuity. Like, ways to hone your concentration before exams, or not getting nervous on dates.”

For some reason, Akira noticed Sumire squirm slightly beside him as her hand finally fell from his wrist, but he just shrugged it off. ‘Improve mental acuity, huh? That… actually sounds useful right about now.’

“How’s that sound?”

“Uh…” Both Ann and Ryuji looked at each other, and Akira closed his eyes as Maruki made the attempt to make eye contact.

‘He could be more useful than I thought at first as he sounds pretty confident in this field- Wait, summoning Personas and using them to fight takes mental stamina, so maybe…’

“There’s also snacks.”

“Alright, alright, enough with the snacks,” Ryuji cut Maruki off, but Akira barely noticed that as he reopened his eyes to see Sumire gazing up at him out of the corner of his eye. He knew that she wanted him to do it, probably to try and get help, but he had no intention whatsoever to use Maruki for his therapy sessions.

“Alright,” Akira finally said with a small sigh, already knowing how Sumire would react. That in and of itself was almost enough for him.

“Senpai!” Sumire exclaimed, and Akira couldn’t force his eyes to stay on Maruki for long as they were practically pulled down towards Sumire’s face. It was so bright that he felt it would blind him if he stared at her for much longer, though that wasn’t much of an issue as Maruki regained his attention with an almost relieved sigh.

“Really? Well then… how about you three?”

“I guess it’d be more trouble if we didn’t go…”

“Yeah…”

The two blondes looked downwards, but Sumire nodded her head enthusiastically.

“Of course!”

“Then I guess it’s a deal. I’ll be in the nurse’s office; feel free to come by whenever it’s convenient for you,” Maruki informed the group.

“Welp, we should get goin’,” Ryuji said, and him and Ann quickly turned away from the doctor.

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” Maruki replied, and the two blondes made their leave, with only Akira and Sumire left with Maruki. “Kurusu-kun, Yoshizawa-san, thanks for taking my counseling into consideration. Now that we have a deal, I promise I’ll do my best to help you two.”

‘Shit… Again? With him of all people?’ Akira nearly cursed out loud as time began slowing, and he closed his eyes in irritation as he waited for the feminine voice.

_ I am thou, thou art I… _

_ Thou hast acquired a new vow. _

_ It shall become the wings of rebellion _

_ That breaketh thy chains of captivity. _

_ With the birth of the Councillor Persona, _

_ thou hast obtained the winds of blessing that _

_ Shall lead to freedom and new power… _

“That’s not what I’m doing this for,” Akira stated as time resumed, and he turned on his heels as soon as he could. “I’ll be there after today. Let’s go, Sumire.”

“Right! See you later, Doctor Maruki!” Sumire said gleefully before rushing back to Akira’s side, and the two walked back into the school. “Thank you, Senpai.”

“For what?” Akira stopped at the top of the stairs at the third floor and turned towards the redhead beaming up at him.

“I know Dr. Maruki appreciates you agreeing to go see him. I think he can help you a lot.” Sumire’s eyes were twinkling, and Akira looked away as he shrugged.

“This is mandatory, and he’s going to be helping me with that mental acuity training he talked about. I think it can be worthwhile.”

Just then, the bell rang, causing both Akira and Sumire to look upwards before their eyes met once again. “I need to go. I’ll see you after school, Senpai!”

“Yeah,” Akira brought his hand up and waved once before turning away, walking back down to the second floor and into his classroom, where Kawakami was waiting with the rest of the students already in their seats.

“All right, settle down,” she said as Akira took his seat, his body creaking slightly with a grunt coming from his lips. “I have an addendum to the earlier assembly, regarding the counseling you’ve all been offered. The counselor will be available to you starting after school today, in the nurse’s office. Dr. Maruki will only be posted here through November, so be sure to speak with him soon if you feel the need. For the majority of you, it’s your choice whether or not you see him, but… there are a few students I’ll speak with later… The school’s decided: visits to Dr. Maruki will be mandatory for these individuals.”

Akira’s phone vibrated, and he didn’t even bother to conceal the fact that he was pulling it out as he just looked down.

_ Ryuji: Yo, you guys gonna go for it? _

_ Ann: What, the counseling? _

_ Ann: It kinda sounds like we’re being forced to. _

_ Sumire: You two said you would, right? _

_ Ryuji: I mean... yeah, but I dunno if I’m really that into the idea, you know? _

_ I’m going. Whether you two go or not doesn’t matter to me, just don’t pull unnecessary attention onto yourselves. _

_ That only brings the rest of us into the limelight with you. _

_ Ann: Right. _

_ Ryuji: Damn dude, it even sounds like you're forcing us… _

_ Sumire: Dr. Maruki is a great counselor! I think both of you would appreciate the help he can give you. _

_ Ann: yeah, I’ll try going today after school. _

Akira nodded down at his phone before slipping it back into his pocket, and barely paid any attention for the rest of the day as Kawakami continued droning on until the very last minute.

With a small grunt, Akira pushed himself from his desk and moved towards the door when his phone suddenly vibrated. Without looking he pulled it out as he made his way out into the halls, glancing downwards as he set out for the nurse’s office which wasn’t very hard to locate as he’s been there numerous times already.

_ Ann: Well, I went in for counseling. _

_ Ann: You’re going soon too, right, Akira? _

_ Yeah. _

_ Ann: Well, it honestly wasn’t as rough as I was expecting. _

_ Ann: I hope you get something out of it like I did. _

_ Ann: Okay, see you tomorrow. _

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Akira found himself in front of the nurse’s office and, without any hesitation, pulled the door wide open. Maruki was sitting in the center of the room in a brown chair, his legs crossed and a smile on his face as Akira made eye contact with him.

“Ah, there you are!” he exclaimed, motioning in with one hand. “Come on in.”

Akira did just that, closing the door as he set foot inside the white painted room and quickly found his way to the open seat to the doctor’s left. “We made a deal,” he said simply.

“Ahaha, well… I’ll try to make sure it’s worth the trouble.” Maruki looked down at the table in front of him, but Akira kept his eyes plastered onto the man. “Well, let’s begin. Is there anything you want to start with? It doesn’t have to be anything in depth if you’re not comfortable with sharing it.”

“No,” Akira shook his head as he folded his arms.

“How did you and Yoshizawa-san meet? You two seem quite close,” Maruki asked seemingly out of nowhere.

“We ran into each other on the first day of school,” Akira shrugged.

“Interesting. Then you two became friends?”

Akira just nodded.

“I see… It’s good that you made a friend so quickly, as I can imagine transferring schools can be a bit tough with leaving your friends and family behind and all- Kurusu-kun, is there something wrong?”

“No,” Akira shook his head forcefully, wiping the pain that had made its way onto his face instantly. He couldn’t share that, not with this man.

“Oh, full disclosure… The school gave me a brief rundown of the circumstances surrounding your transfer here.”

“Figured they would,” Akira scoffed, his scowl growing deeper before he closed his eyes. “What’s done is done, though.”

“That’s a rather mature way to think about it. Most would linger on the issue, but you seem to have been able to move past it,” Maruki noted, and Akira leaned forward onto his thighs as his eyes reopened. “It seems as if that you’ve been able, at least somewhat, to reconcile your internal world with your external one. How to put it… You know how everyone has an internal reality? Some conception of themselves they’re striving for? Like, wanting to be a model student, or wanting to be loved and relied o- Kurusu-kun? Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Just… keep going,” Akira said through gritted teeth. It took everything he had to push the pain in his chest out, and luckily Maruki didn’t continue onwards.

“Okay…” Maruki nodded. “That idealized reality and the one in actuality are often far apart. That gap is responsible for a lot of people’s pain. Not everyone can be who they want to be, unfortunately. However, you’ve already been through so much, or at least from what I’ve gleaned. The things you’ve been through is usually enough to twist people up into dark places that they can’t come back from. But you- you’re standing up to it, and confronting a tough, painful reality. To me, that’s incredibly admirable.”

“It was all Sumire,” Akira said before going quiet, keeping his eyes on the brown table to avoid any more mishaps.

“You two must be really close then, for you to say that.” Akira nodded slightly. “She seems to be a perfect support structure for you, Kurusu-kun. Well, let’s see… Sorry, this went on longer than I expected. The conversation took on a life of its own, I guess…”

“Are we done?” Akira asked plainly, not bothering to move his eyes up.

“I’ve actually got one last request. Do you mind?”

“What is it?” Akira finally looked up to see Maruki’s eyes turn slightly serious.

“I’m actually doing certain research along with my duties as a counselor. It’s not quite like counseling - more like a type of psychological treatment… Basically, it’s a project to learn more about people’s metaphorical hearts. What they think, how they feel. If I can get it completed, I could help a lot of people. So…?”

“What’s in this for me?” Akira asked, his eyes focusing on Maruki’s. “And what would I be doing?”

“Oh right!” Maruki shot up with his glasses magnifying his black orbs as they widened. “I would like to ask you to help with this research! Nothing too complicated, you would just listen to my theories and then tell me if they resonate with you or spark any ideas or realizations!”

Akira raised an eyebrow; that sounded interesting to him, but…

“Oh right! You asked what I would give you in return…” Maruki trailed off, his hair flipping slightly as he looked around frantically, an action which strangely set Akira at ease. “Oh! On top of snacks, I could teach you some tips for mental training! How about it? I know a lot on the subject, and if you’re dedicated enough, I’m sure you could draw out your full potential!” So… please?”

“Fine,” Akira replied without missing a beat, something that shocked both himself and Maruki as the latter shot to his feet.

“Really? YES! You’re a lifesaver, Kurusu-kun!” Maruki shouted, and Akira allowed himself to wince back as a shot of pain racketed through his mind. The older man noticed obviously, scratching the back of his head as he found his way back to his seat “Sorry, I got carried away there. Do you have a headache?”

Akira shook his head, “It’s nothing big.” 

“Okay. Oh, would you mind if we traded contact information? I’ll contact you when I’ve got time or need some input from you.”

Akira simply nodded, and the two quickly did just that as they pulled out their phones.

“Awesome! Thank you so much. Now, let’s talk about mental training and presence to get you started off, okay?”

“Alright, that should do it for today! You were quite receptive with that training, Kurusu-kun,” Maruki stated as he and Akira got to their feet and began moving towards the door.

“Yeah,” Akira nodded in response. He simply wanted to get out of there already. The training wasn’t half bad, but he was done being near the man, at least for now. Reaching for the handle, Akira could feel a presence behind the door, but he shrugged off the feeling as he pulled it open. “Sumire?!” he nearly shouted in surprise of seeing the redhead staring back at him. 

“How’d it go, Senpai?” Sumire asked excitedly as she took another step towards Akira.

“It went well, but… were you waiting for me out here?” For some reason, Sumire’s eyes increased in size numerous times over as a dusting of pink covered her cheeks, and she nervously nodded as she backed up.

“U-Um… Yes? Is that weird, Senpai?”

“No, I just wasn’t expecting it is all,” Akira waved off Sumire’s question and quickly used the space he was allotted to move out into the hallway. “We should get going.”

“Ah, Yoshizawa-san!” Behind Akira he could hear Maruki moving towards the duo and he stopped and glanced backwards over his shoulder. “How are you doing?”   
“I’m good,” Sumire responded, her smile clear in her voice. “I was just waiting for Senpai here. I’m happy that he came to see you, Dr. Maruki.”

“I’m afraid you give me too much credit, Yoshizawa-san, but I’m grateful that he came as well,” Maruki chuckled as he nodded his head. “Again, I’m truly happy that you’re doing better. It seems like you’ve found yourself a good friend in Kurusu-kun here, haven’t you?”

“Mhm! I… don’t know where I would be without him.” Stealing a glance over at Sumire, Akira closed his eyes right after seeing the sheer thankfulness in her eyes. It made him uncomfortable every time he saw it, but there wasn’t anything he could do.

“That’s wonderful to hear! However… Ah, we’ll keep that for later,” Maruki interrupted himself, causing Akira to look backwards at the doctor, but the man just smiled back at him. “You two said you were heading back home, correct? Well, I’ll see you both later then, and thank you once again for your assistance Kurusu-kun.”

“Yeah.” With that, Akira turned his head back forward and pushed himself towards the Courtyard.

“Hey Senpai?” Sumire gained Akira’s attention as the two passed through the center of the Courtyard. “Um, what did Dr. Maruki mean when he thanked you for your assistance? Are you helping him with something?”

“I guess you could say that,” Akira replied, holding the door open for Sumire before following after her as they made their way towards the entrance. “I’m listening to his theories on a subject he’s interested in, and he’s giving me lessons on mental acuity. It’s useful.”

“I’m happy that you got along with him, Senpai.”

“Well,” Akira let out a sigh, letting Sumire go out of the school first, “you said that he helped you, so he can’t be that bad.”

“Senpai…”

Noticing Sumire’s smile grow out of the corner of his eyes, Akira continued on as they made their way down the street. “On top of that I feel like he has good information about learning to better control my mind, so that can help…”

“What do you mean by that, Senpai?”

“While we’re in the Metaverse, I mean,” Akira clarified, and Sumire just hesitantly nodded her head. “I’ll probably go in when you have practice and when he’s available. It’ll be useful.”

“Senpai, you can see him even when I have free days you know…” Sumire said in an almost whiney matter, and Akira looked down with a small smile towards his friend.

“I would rather spend that time with you. It helps me stay grounded.”

“S-Senpai!”

“What?” Akira raised an eyebrow as Sumire looked away hurriedly. “Did I say something weird?”

“N-No, but…” Slowly, Sumire began turning her head back towards Akira, and he could see red burning on both sides of her face. “I-I just didn’t expect you to say that…”

“It’s the truth, though. I didn’t expect to say it either.”

Suddenly, as Akira was staring down at Sumire, his mind’s eye flashed a white light and his mind was suddenly filled with that moment again at the cafe, with Sumire’s head on his shoulder. However, Akira allowed it to remain this time, his smile persisting as well as he and Sumire moved into the station. To him, that moment perfectly represented the level of trust both of them shared. It was something that he never thought he would find again. But, somehow, he did. With Sumire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, longer chapter! And now Maruki! Finally going to be getting to the next phase of the story with Madarame, hope you all are as excited as I am!


	22. World of Art

Akira stood on the busy platform, hands in his pockets as he waited for the train leading towards Shujin. The last day of exams were upon him, and he was feeling eager to get them done with. No matter which way he looked at it, he knew part of the reason was that he wanted to be around Sumire; he couldn’t even try to deny that fact anymore.

“Akira-senpai, how are you feeling?”

Akira glanced downwards to see his best friend’s eyes staring back at him behind her round glasses.

“I’m alright,” Akira replied as he closed his eyes. Focusing inward, his slightly clouded mind cleared with whatever headache that was beginning to form dispersed, at least for the most part. “How about you?” He turned his attention back down to see Sumire’s concerned face brighten as a smile tugged at her lips.

“I’m good as well! I’m glad today is the last day of exams.” Sumire let out a relieved sigh as she readjusted her glasses, and Akira nodded before returning his gaze back towards the empty tracks. “Hey Senpai?”

“Yeah?” Akira kept his eyes forward, but he could feel Sumire’s red orbs glued onto his face.

“Did… Did you tell Maruki about…”

“No.” Shaking his head, Akira finished Sumire’s question. “He doesn’t need to know about that.”

“But Senpai, he can help you!” Sumire exclaimed, her gaze intensifying, but Akira simply kept his own forward as he cleared his mind once again.

“I don’t need any more help,” Akira replied simply, not an ounce of annoyance on his face or in his voice. However, as silence fell between him and Sumire, the surrounding bustle of the crowd filled his senses, but he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in before the familiar pounding in his head could emerge.

‘I only need Maruki to help train my mind,’ he thought as he managed to keep his mind crisp and to keep the low roar of the crowd at bay. ‘Any therapy would be wasted on me, anyways…’

“Yo!”

Akira’s eyes crawled back open as he turned his head towards the familiar call. Both the blondes were making their way towards him and Sumire, and Akira shook his head as he returned his gaze back forward; they both had large bags under their eyes and they seemed like they were dragging their bodies forward.

“Ryuji-senpai! Ann-senpai!” Akira saw Sumire wave towards the two out of the corner of his eyes.

“Sumire,” Ann started as her and Ryuji stopped next to Akira and Sumire, but interrupted herself with a yawn before continuing, “Didn’t we tell you that you don’t need to be formal?”

“O-Oh, right… Ann,” Sumire struggled out, and Akira glanced down at her to see her face drop and her hands playing with one another. Eyes returning forward, Akira let out a sigh as a strained silence fell between the four, and it quickly became too much as he turned his attention rightward towards his three teammates.

“You two look tired,” Akira stared directly at the two blondes, not without noticing Sumire’s eyes directed upwards at him. 

“Yeah…” Ryuji groaned as he also let out a long yawn and hung his head. “I ended up pullin’ an all-nighter once I realized today’s the last day of exams…”

“Same here… With exams coming up, I decided to try and make one last push to the finish line...” Ann added quietly, clearly trying to hold back more yawns, and Akira closed his eyes and held back a groan as his bag moved suddenly. 

“Ryuji? Staying up studying?” Morgana popped up right next to Akira’s left ear, his paws barely pressing down onto his shoulder, but Akira still felt the pressure as his brow scrunched. “Though I’m impressed, Lady Ann. You’re quite different from that stupid monkey over there.”

“You wanna go right now, cat?” Ryuji shot back, though Akira could see his eyes nearly close as the blond tried to take a threatening step towards Morgana, settling instead for scowling at the cat. “Besides, your brain is tiny compared to mine.”

“I am not a cat, you useless ape!” Morgana yelped right into Akira’s ear, prickles of pain shooting through his mind even as he took another breath in. “And you say your brain is big, but there’s just empty space in i–”

“Can it,” Akira growled as he slowly turned his head towards Morgana. He let his eyes sharpen as he stared at the black cat, and he knew that it was more than enough as Morgana’s entire body tensed.

“Hah, thanks Akira for backin’ me up,” Ryuji began, taking a step towards Akira. “Why’d you even bring him with y–”

“You too.” Akira turned his grey eyes onto Ryuji, who stopped in his tracks instantly. Akira quickly focused upwards during the brief moment of calm as Ryuji and Morgana remained quiet, but he could only ease so much of the dull pain in his mind.

“Jeez...” Ann stated as she rubbed her eyes. “You two were about to make me forget everything I memori- Hm?” Stopping herself short, Ann turned around with her face scrunched up. “Am I imagining things?”  
Before Akira could respond, Sumire also turned in the same direction. “I… don’t think you are, Ann-se- I mean, Ann,” she replied, her voice shaking slightly, and Akira ignored the remaining headache he had as he stared down at her worried face.

“What’s goin’ on?” Ryuji asked, but Ann turned back around and shook her head.

“It’s… It’s nothing,” she responded semi-confidently, but Akira closed his eyes again. However, after a moment of trying to quiet the rest of his senses, he found nothing came to him as the train the five were waiting for finally came in.

“Sumire, are you okay?” Akira looked down to see her still looking out into the crowd even as Ryuji and Ann boarded the train. It seemed like she didn’t hear him, and as Akira focused on her face he could see fear creeping into her eyes. Seeing her like that… 

Akira turned around fully and stepped beside her, his hand gently falling onto her slender shoulder.

“Ah!” Sumire yelped as her eyes shot up to Akira’s. “S-Senpai?!”

“We need to go,” Akira said simply, lifting his hand from her shoulder and turning towards the still open doors and saw Ryuji and Ann stop in the center of the train. As he started walking, he felt something; it was like someone was watching him with great intent, and it was almost enough for him to turn around himself. “Someone’s watching you.”

“Huh?” Akira didn’t need to look down to see Sumire staring wide eyed at him. “H-How did you..?”

“They’re watching me too now.” Without another word, Akira led Sumire onto the train and narrowly avoided the closing doors. None of the five spoke to one another, and Akira kept glancing around the train car, not without noticing the redness of Sumire’s face as his eyes passed over her. Akira could still feel the intense gaze of this stalker, though it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was earlier, but he could see Ann and Sumire look backwards more and more as the train continued on. Though his best friend was clearly becoming more and more uneased, Akira kept his eyes forward. 

‘I can’t do anymore for her other than to stay calm myself…’ he thought, though he felt something deep within himself. Something that made his hand twitch, that pulled his eyes downwards, but Akira pushed the feeling away as the train stopped. With Akira in the back, the five made their way towards the escalators with Sumire directly in front of Akira.

“Oh my god, that guy got off!” Ann exclaimed suddenly as she looked back halfway up the escalators before looking down at Akira. “Isn’t this bad?”

“S-Senpai… What do we do?” Sumire’s voice shook as she looked Akira in the eyes, and his fists tightened. “I… I don’t know what he wants…”

“Follow me,” was all he said, and without another word he began climbing up the escalator. Nothing else needed to be said as he felt Sumire right behind him.

“What’s goin’ on?” Akira ignored Ryuji as he passed by him, instead just keeping his eyes forward as he got closer and closer to the surface. Soon, two other sets of footsteps were following him, and he led the three onto the sidewalk. The sun hit his face as he walked away from the subway station, and the usual feeling of relief of getting out of the constrained space wasn’t present as he stopped after a few moments.

“Senpai, I think he’s still...” Sumire began, but she stopped as Akira turned around and stared her in the eyes.

“Sumire, Ann,” Akira looked at Sumire as her red orbs wavered with fear. “Wait right here and stay facing forward. Ryuji, you and I will go off to the side.”

“What? Why?” Ryuji frowned in confusion, and Akira blinked back his irritation as he turned towards the blond.

“Whoever is following us is after these two for whatever reason.” Akira fought back the annoyed growl in his throat as he still saw the cluelessness within the blond’s eyes. “Do I really have to spell it out any more than that?”

“He’ll only approach when we’re not with them, Ryuji. This is the only way to confront this stalker!” Morgana exclaimed, popping back out of Akira’s bag. Akira allowed this as the realization finally dawned on Ryuji, who nodded before he turned and jogged over to the side of the subway station. Before Akira could do the same, he felt Sumire’s hand grab hold of his sleeve, something that he had become used to at this point, and instantly turned back around to see Sumire staring down at the ground.

“Sumire, it’s okay,” he tried to reassure the girl, but only felt Sumire clutch onto him even tighter. He knew he couldn’t move away, not with her like that, but what else could he do? “This guy isn’t going to get to you; I promise.”

“I… I still don’t want you to go…” Akira could barely hear Sumire whisper, and he cursed internally. 

‘God dammit… What the hell do I do?’

“Ann is here, and I’m not going that far away. You’ll be fine.” Again, he tried to reassure his best friend as he turned back towards her, but nothing seemed to work as she simply grabbed his other sleeve once they were facing one another. He was just about to give up, to try and pull his arm away so the plan could work properly, but Sumire’s pleas tugging at his heart combined with the rapidly approaching foreign footsteps behind him forced him to stay. In fact, as the footsteps continued growing closer, a gasp came from Sumire, and Akira instantly pushed her behind his back after spinning around. His eyes were wide, a scowl plastered across his face as he kept Sumire firmly behind him, though he didn’t have to do much to keep her there as she was already clutching onto his blazer.

“Hm…?” 

In front of Akira stood a lanky, blue haired male. His face was pale and he wore a white shirt with a black fleur-de-lis over his left breast. Instead of a creepy smile that Akira expected would be on his face, there was nothing but a questioning gaze on this newcomer’s face.

“Hey, uh…” Ryuji began as he moved towards Akira, looking up and down the blue-haired boy before looking at Ann. “Are you sure it’s him? Or are you just that self-conscious.”

“Rgh, I’m not tha–”

“Is there something you want?” the boy asked innocently, but Akira kept his glare steady.

“Explain yourself,” he growled, but the boy still remained confused, or at least outwardly he did.

“I’m unsure of what you mean,” he shook his head, but Akira kept his glare sharp.

“My friend saw you following us ever since we got on the train. Leave. Us. Alone.”

“That’s because…” 

Numerous honks came from Akira’s left, and yet his attention stayed on the blue haired boy while he turned towards the sudden interruption.

“My goodness… I had wondered why you left the car,” an old man spoke as the window to the backseat fell, and Akira’s eyes narrowed as he stole a glance towards him. He looked… familiar. “So this is where your passion led. All is well that ends well. Hahaha…” The old man titled his head back and chuckled, which only set Akira more on guard.

“Your two friends behind you,” the bluenette began, speaking directly to Akira as their eyes remet. “When I saw them in the car, I knew that I couldn’t let them get away. Especially you.” Akira’s already razor sharp eyes turned poisonous as the boy’s gaze tried to go around him, the feeling of the hands on his back coming to the forefront of his mind as they tightened.

“U-Um…” Sumire muttered. Her voice wasn’t shaking nearly as much, but she wasn’t calm either.

“But really, both of you! You two are the women of my dreams, the only ones that can help give me what I need. Please, won’t both of you–”

“U-Um, wait just a moment!” Ann yelped, something that barely reached Akira as his heartbeat was in his ears. 

“–Be the next models for my next art piece!?”

“...Models?” Akira heard Ann mutter, and Akira felt the creeping dark feeling building within his chest dissipate, at least ever so slightly. Sumire behind him let out a small sigh of relief, something that he shared equally as much yet did not know why.

“Both of you have natural beauty and grace that would make an excellent painting by itself, but you,” Suddenly, the feeling deep within Akira roared back to life as the boy looked past him at Sumire. “I feel something from you that I cannot describe…”

“S-Senpai, what should I do?” Sumire asked shakily, allowing Akira to regain some of his senses as he just shook his head. He was just about as lost as her, but she was still uncomfortable, that much he could tell.

“Please, won’t you two assist me?” he pleaded as he lunged forward slightly, a look of desperation on his face. Luckily, Ryuji stepped into Akira’s vision as the teen nearly closed the distance entirely between himself and the bluenette.

“Hold your horses! Who’re you anyways?” Ryuji questioned as he stopped right next to Akira in front of the two girls.

“Oh, where are my manners? I’m a second-year at Kosei High’s fine art division,” the boy responded, and Akira relaxed his hands as he took a step backwards. He caught a glimpse of Sumire also relaxed, and he stopped moving backwards as he found himself right next to her. “My name is Yusuke Kitagawa. I’m Madarame-sensei’s pupil, and I am being allowed residence at his place. I’m striving to become an artist.”

“Madarame?” Sumire vocalized Akira’s internal question, and he looked down to see more curiosity in her eyes than fear. However, he made sure to stay on guard; luckily, standing right next to Sumire allowed him to have both her and Kitagawa in his view.

“He’s an artist. A famous one,” Akira finally said, his voice dry as he stared through the boy who nodded rather excitedly with a smile.

“Indeed he is! You seem somewhat knowledgeable in fine arts.”

However, Akira stayed quiet as he nodded once. 

“Wait, Akira…” Ann began, and Akira shifted his head to see her staring back at him. “Didn’t we hear something about him in…”

“Yeah,” he nodded before he looked back at Kitagawa.

“Yusuke!” The old man, Madarame, as Akira figured now, shouted with a smile on his face.

“I’m sorry, Sensei. I’ll be right there!” Kitagawa called back before moving towards Ann and Sumire. However, Sumire took a step towards Akira, but she didn’t show any signs of fear. Confused, Akira tried to shrug it off as Kitagawa reached into his pocket and procured four tickets to something. “Tomorrow, Madarame-sensei’s exhibition will begin. It will be by the department store near the station, and I hope you two come as I will be there to help out. It would be great if you could give me your answer in regard to being a model then…” Kitagawa trailed off as he held out the tickets to Ann and Sumire, both taking two each. “I gave you two more just in case you two would also like to come. I doubt you,” Kitagawa looked directly at Ryuji, “have any interest in the fine arts, but…”

Akira made eye contact with the blue-haired teen before Kitagawa’s gaze moved to Sumire, who was still inches away from Akira. “You give off a certain aura that I cannot explain. Perhaps you two would get the most from the exhibition together. Ah, but now I must be going. I hope to see you at the exhibition tomorrow.”

Without another word, Kitagawa walked past Akira and into the black car, leaving the five thieves alone and confused as to what just happened. Immediately, Akira turned towards Sumire and nodded inwardly; she seemed to be fine. Slightly shaken, but not overly afraid.

“That guy’s as easy to read as a book…” Ryuji commented before looking at Ann. “You’re not plannin’ on goin’, are ya?”

“...I think I will,” she said after a pause, which elicited a surprised meow from Akira’s bag.

“Huh?!” Ryuji exclaimed, but Akira pushed aside the rest of that conversation as he looked back down at Sumire, who was already staring up at him.

“Senpai, can we…”

“You also want to go?” Akira finished for her, and she just nodded. Letting out an internal sigh, Akira weighed his options. However, no matter which way he looked at it, he didn’t really have a choice in the matter. He couldn’t just let her go by herself; he still didn’t quite trust this Kitagawa guy, and either way Sumire would just beg for him to go as well. “Alright. But for now we should get going.”

Sumire quickly pulled out her phone and her face dropped. “Oh no! We’re going to be late, Senpai!” Rushing forward, Sumire left Akira alone with the two blondes for just a moment before he took off after her. Running usually meant more attention on him, but Akira didn’t want to deal with the two blondes’ squabbling. Besides, after that encounter he had completely forgotten about exams, and as he chased after Sumire he felt his heart sink more and more. He just wanted them to be over with.

* * *

“Senpai!”

As Akira walked out of his classroom, his dour mood brightened immediately as his eyes set onto Sumire. “How did you do, Sumire?”

“I think I did okay,” she responded as the two began descending the stairs. As he walked, Akira felt the weight of this week finally lift off his shoulders and almost let a smile onto his face. “Though, I really only have you to thank for that Senpai.”

Akira glanced over at the girl smiling up at him and opened his mouth, but the blonde heads heading towards him stopped any response he had to that.

“It’s over!” Ann cheerily exclaimed, the two blondes beginning to walk with Akira and Sumire towards the entrance of the school. 

“It’s finally over…” Ryuji, contrasting with Ann, groaned, and Akira blinked at him as they made eye contact. “How’d you do?”

“Good,” was all Akira responded with, and saw as Ryuji wore a hurt look on his face.

“You traitor!”

“Whatever,” Akira shook his head only to see Sumire still smiling at him, and whatever annoyance that came with the noisy blondes left in that instance. With a sigh, Akira looked over at Ryuji who had his phone pulled out and was staring intently at it. “Is there anything?”

“What’re you talkin’ about?” the blond looked up, and Akira resisted the urge to groan in irritation.

“You dimwit, he’s asking you if there’s any news on a new target,” Morgana burst out of Akira’s bag, forcing Akira to take a deep breath to avoid a headache.

“Ohhh…” Ryuji’s face lit up with realization, nodding as he glanced down at his phone before looking back up. “Nope.”

“Figured,” Akira sighed as he walked down the escalator with Sumire right behind him. As they all reached the bottom, the four fanned out again with Akira and Sumire in the center. ‘The only lead we have is on Madarame, but even then… We need something concrete on him.’

“Senpai,” Sumire snapped Akira back to the real world, and he looked down towards her. “I think we can relax for now, right? Since exams ended today.”

After a moment of just walking with the other three, four including Morgana from his bag, Akira nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. You have practice tonight, correct?”

“Mhm,” Sumire nodded back as the five entered onto the train leading towards Shibuya. “I also have practice tomorrow, but Coach has it in the morning, so we can still go to the exhibition!”

“You’re still plannin’ on goin’?” Ryuji asked with a surprised look on his face.

“I mean, we got free tickets to go, didn’t we?” Ann responded back, and Akira glanced over as he felt his bag shift on his shoulder. “I think it would be fun.”

“Oh no, was it love at first sight?” Morgana popped out of Akira’s black bag before quickly retreating as Akira glared him into submission. 

“That’s not it,” Ann shook her head furiously. “When I saw that special on TV, I liked his artwork. Plus, like Sumire said, we have free tickets.”

Akira looked around, but no one seemed to be paying them any mind on the train. “There might be more information that we can use as well.”

Sumire tilted her head. “About what we heard in Mementos, Senpai?” 

“Yeah,” Akira replied, turning towards the open doors and headed out into the Shibuya station with Sumire by his side and the blondes behind him. “This is where we split.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Senpai,” Sumire said as she began walking towards her station, waving behind her. “You to, Ryuji-se- Ryuji and Ann.”

“Bye Sumire,” Ann called back as Akira continued walking forward. With Sumire gone, he just wanted to go back to Leblanc. Eventually, he found the train stop towards Yongen-Jaya and, after a curt wave towards the two blondes, he left them and flung on his headphones. Life had been so hectic for him ever since meeting Sumire that he had almost forgotten about his reliance on them to block out his surroundings, but they were still effective even without her around. However, midway through the quiet ride back to Yongen-Jaya, Akira frowned down at his phone.

“Really…?” he whispered, blinking slowly to make sure he was seeing it correctly. “I should tell Sumire about it…”

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Akira made his way from the station and towards Leblanc.

“Ah, you’re back,” Sojiro said instantly as the door closed behind Akira. He saw that no one was in the cafe except for him and the older man who was just reclining against the wall behind the counter. Akira nodded curtly at the man as he began moving towards the staircase. He wanted to get his bag off his shoulder as it began cramping under Morgana’s weight. “Hey.”

As Akira made it to the stairs, he stopped. ‘Dammit…’ Groaning internally, Akira slowly turned back towards Sojiro. He had moved away from the wall, now standing behind the coffee machine. “Yeah?”

“I appreciate you helping during Golden Week, and I realized that I haven’t kept up my side of our deal. So, how about it?”

“Making coffee?” Akira questioned, and Sojiro nodded his head.

“You seemed interested about it last time we talked about it, so I figured I’d offer,” Sojiro spoke plainly, and after a quick moment Akira nodded back at the old man. It could be a good way to free up his mind, and he was eager on how to learn, though he would never show it.

“Alright.”

“Here, take this up with you,” Sojiro tossed an apron Akira had previously used when helping the older man. “You’re going to change, right? You can just keep that one, I’ve got my own.”

“Got it.” Turning back towards the stairs, Akira made his way to the attic and set down his bag onto his bed. Just as expected, Morgana instantly popped out of it as it touched the bed.

“Finally free! I can hardly breathe in there!”

“Why did you want to come today of all days?” Akira asked as he began changing with little care that Morgana was right there. 

“Well, today was your final day of exams, right? I kinda thought that you might have gotten together, and maybe we would have learned about a new target along the way,” Morgana explained as he jumped down onto the floor. 

“Stay up here,” Akira turned away from the approaching creature, fully changed and apron donned as he moved towards the staircase once again. Without another word, he left the cat alone, returning back to the cafe to see Sojiro waiting in the same spot as before.

“Are you finally ready?” the man asked annoyedly, but Akira couldn’t detect any traces of the emotion on his face as he simply nodded. Walking next to Sojiro, Akira kept his eyes forward and downwards towards the coffee maker. “Alright, let’s begin. Have you ever tried brewing coffee before?”

Akira shook his head, opting to stay silent even as he felt Sojiro staring directly at him, and after a brief moment of silence a huff came from the older man before he turned towards the wall of coffee beans.

“We’re using cheap beans for this, don’t want to waste any of my good ones,” Sojiro muttered, but even as Akira caught what he said he just kept his eyes forward. “Well, that doesn’t matter. You can learn about bean types later, but for now we’re just going to focus on the basics of making coffee.”

Akira quickly became engrossed with what was happening in front of him as Sojiro walked through the process of brewing coffee. He wasn’t going too fast or too slow, just the perfect speed for Akira to follow and absorb the information while not becoming too bored while watching. At the end of the demonstration, Sojiro picked up a now full cup of coffee and, after blowing on it to let it cool, took a sip.

“Now, you try.” Akira’s eyes shot up to see the older man staring intently at him. However, Sojiro waved his hand nonchalantly in front of him. “Don’t worry, I’ll be here to lead you through the process. Can’t have you serve a bad cup of coffee to a customer.”

Quickly regaining his bearings, Akira found himself right behind the brewer with the jar full of the coffee beans. With a quick glance down at the jar, Akira noted the name of the beans he was handling as he put around a handful of them into the old fashioned grinder Sojiro had. ‘Mexican Altura… I’ve never had something like that before, or at least I don’t remember if I ever did,’ Akira thought.

“Do you remember what grind you’re supposed to use?” Sojiro asked gruffly, snapping Akira back to reality. 

“Medium-fine,” Akira responded, keeping his focus still on the grinder in front of him. The image of Sojiro using the machine remained fresh in his mind, and almost automatically his hand began moving. The beans let off a savory aroma instantly, and Akira kept his focus sharp even as the delicious smell filled his nostrils.

“Alright, that looks good enough,” Sojiro interrupted the grind even as Akira could have sworn that he needed a few more seconds with the machine, but one glance over at Sojiro told him everything he needed to know as he moved the grind over towards the coffee brewer. 

In the end, Akira found himself drinking coffee that wasn’t half bad. Compared to the older man’s coffee it wasn’t anywhere near good, but still Akira tasted the nutty flavor of the coffee as he slowly savored his cup. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Sojiro pour out a cup for himself, and despite himself he watched curiously as the man took a small sip.

“Hm…” A hand went to Sojiro’s chin, the other holding the coffee as he stared down at it before he looked over at Akira. “It’s not bad, but it’s pretty damn bland. You have a long way to go.”

Setting down his empty cup, Akira simply nodded at Sojiro. Even though the man’s words didn’t mean much to him, Akira still felt something from them. Like the gap between Sojiro and himself was shortening, even if it was only by a litt–

‘Stop it,’ Akira shook his head. There wasn’t a world where he and Sojiro would become close; he should have known that by now. 

However, before Akira could wrestle with his mind further, the bell at the front of the store rang, drawing his attention upwards. “Welco–” Sojiro began, but paused as Akira saw his shoulders tense. “You…”

“Hello, Sakura-san! It’s been quite a while!” the new man exclaimed cheerfully, but Akira instantly felt off as he stared at his smiling face. “I decided to come by after hearing you opened up a shop! Though, it wouldn’t have hurt to mention it to me, right?”

“Your order?” Sojiro said, and Akira could hear the growl deep within his voice.

“No small talk? You’re being awfully cold, Sakura-san,” the middle aged man replied before looking around the place. “This smell brings back memories… You’re still making that curry, huh? You still haven’t gotten over her yet…”

“Your order, sir?” The strain within Sojiro’s voice was very clear to Akira, setting him even further on edge even as all he could do was watch.

“No need to be pushy. I just wanted to stop in and say hi… but I’ll be back soon! Bye.” With that, the man turned and calmly walked out of Leblanc, leaving a strained silence in the air along with the smell of freshly brewed coffee.

“Where the hell did he catch wind of this place?” Sojiro grumbled to himself as he scratched the back of his head.

“Seemed suspicious,” Akira found himself saying, though he didn’t let his shock towards himself show on his face as Sojiro turned towards him.

“I guess you have an eye for some things after all,” Sojiro chuckled, and he shook his face free of the remaining stress before meeting Akira’s eyes once again. “If you have time before our next session, memorize the different bean types. You’re not gonna be useful to me if you can’t pick up on those sometime soon. Besides,” a smirk found its way onto Sojiro’s face, “ladies love a guy who knows his coffee. This isn’t such a bad deal for you.”

Akira stared unblinkingly at Sojiro. His face remained emotionless, with his mind much the same as he didn’t bother to take much time to process what the man said. 

“Jeez, not even a reaction from you?” Sojiro sighed as his grin fell. “I even thought that you and Sumire…” Trailing off, Sojiro shook his head as Akira blinked curiously at him; him and Sumire? What did that mean? “No, that doesn’t matter. I’ll teach you right so I can sit back and relax.”

“Sounds good,” Akira nodded, a slight frown beginning to take form on his face. Though, it didn’t last long as he blinked away his confusion; whatever Sojiro was talking about, it didn’t concern him. ‘He can think whatever he wants. Just as long as he keeps his end of the barga- Wait…’ Looking down at his empty coffee cup, Akira could feel any tiredness that took hold over him disappear steadily as the weight on his eyelids lifted. Then, in an instant, he saw Sumire after letting out one of her biggest attacks after they were ambushed in Kamoshida’s Palace; she was dead tired and nearly unconscious, but the soda Akira gave her had actually helped in keeping the unbridled exhaustion at bay. ‘Was it the caffeine that did that? If so, maybe coffee could be a substitute for that.’

“Hey,” Akira blinked rapidly as Sojiro pulled him back to the present and looked up at the older man, “we’re done here, so let’s get cleaned up so I can go home. No slacking off, got it?” 

With only a nod, Akira did as Sojiro asked, being relegated to dishes once again while the man went and checked on the curry for the next day. It didn’t take long for them both to be done and, after a curt nod towards Akira, Sojiro turned and left the cafe. Akira, as soon as he was alone, lifted his apron over his head as he made his way upstairs.

“How was working with Boss?” Morgana instantly asked as Akira set foot in the attic, but he didn’t respond back immediately as he threw the apron onto the couch before sitting down on the bed. His eyes landed on the black cat to his right standing on all fours and staring up at him. 

“Palaces come into existence due to someone’s distorted desires, correct?” Akira ignored Morgana’s question for his own, leaning on his thighs after pulling out his phone.

“That’s right, but why do you–”

“Look.” Turning his phone around towards the cat, Akira watched as Morgana’s eyes lit up with realization.

“Wait, Madarame really does have a Palace?!” Morgana yelped as Akira slid his phone back into his pocket. “How did you even find that out?”

“I just input his name into the Navigator,” Akira shrugged lazily, but Morgana shook his head rapidly.

“That’s not…” the cat took a deep breath, closing his eyes before looking back up at Akira, “I’m assuming you did some research on him? Did you find anything big?”

“No, nothing big,” Akira shook his head, and saw the excited look in Morgana’s eyes dim. “There’s rumors, but he’s popular nationally. Those make sense for him to have.”

“Then why did you enter him into the Nav?” Morgana asked, tilting his head. “It couldn’t have been entirely because of Nakanohara’s Shadow, right?”

“It wasn’t,” Akira responded. “After seeing him today in that car, there was something about him that put me off. Something fake.”

“Are you sure? It could just be you, Akira.”

“He has a Palace, Morgana,” Akira shot back, stopping the cat as he began walking towards the bed. “Though, we don’t know why he has one or even what the keywords are, so knowing that he has one is pretty much useless.”

Morgana approached the bed a little bit more. “When did you even look it up?” 

“On the train from Shibuya to here,” Akira responded and, in one motion, kicked off his shoes and brought his feet onto the bed. “I told Sumire the moment I found ou–”

Akira stopped as he pressed on the message’s app on his phone, and instantly he was met with his text conversation with his best friend. At the top of the screen was a screenshot of the confirmation that Madarame has a palace with a message from him reading:

_Thought you might want to see this. We don’t have anything on him, though, so we can’t go into his Palace._

Scrolling down, Akira saw two responses from Sumire.

_Sumire: He… has a Palace? What can we do now, Senpai?_

_Sumire: We don’t know that much about him._

_Yeah, that’s true. For now we’ll just gather information; that exhibition tomorrow should be a good place to learn more about him._

_Sumire: Have you told Ryuji and Ann yet?_

_No_

Seeing Sumire typing, Akira’s thumbs quickly went to work as he already knew what she was going to say.

_We can tell them once we have more information, but right now knowing that he has one doesn’t do us any good._

_Sumire: That’s true I guess…_

_Sumire: I just feel bad for leaving them out._

_I’ll tell them tomorrow after the exhibition._

_Sumire: Okay…_

_Sumire: We can walk around the exhibition together, right Senpai?_

Akira’s brow furrowed slightly at the question, but he shook it off quickly as he typed his response. She never failed to catch him off guard.

_Sure._

_Sumire: Thank you, Senpai!_

_Sumire: Oh, I need to go to bed now. Goodnight, Senpai!_

_Night, Sumire._

With a slight yawn, Akira turned off his phone and set it on the overhang by the bed before kicking off his shoes. Then, in one motion, he brought his legs onto the bed. “Going to bed.”

“Alright,” Morgana called back, sauntering over towards the foot of the bed out of the corner of Akira’s vision. “Hey Akira?”

“What?”

“Can you bring me to that exhibition tomorrow? I need to make sure that creep doesn’t do anything to Lady Ann and–”

“Yeah, fine,” Akira cut off Morgana, his eyes already falling fast. “Now go to sleep…”

* * *

Bringing up the rear, Sumire by his side, Akira allowed his eyes to wander from side to side. All around him were paintings, large and small, and there were starstruck people littering the floor of the exhibition.

“Wow…” Akira’s eyes moved to his right to see Sumire’s mouth slightly open in awe, and he fought back the urge to let out a sigh. However, he didn’t have to hold back the feeling for very long as the sight of the blue haired teen approaching the group gave him reason enough to let out an audible groan.

“You two came!” he exclaimed, his eyes darting between Ann and Sumire.

“Um… yeah,” Ann replied nervously, but Kitagawa’s eyes quickly darted onto Akira and Ryuji.

“Oh, you also came.” Akira’s eye twitched slightly, but he kept his growing irritation at bay with a silent, deep breath.

“What did you expect when you left us those tickets!?” Ryuji shot back, but Kitagawa had seemed to have already moved on as he stared at Ann and Sumire once again.

“Make sure you do not disturb the other guests,” he said idly, his eyes beginning to sparkle again. “Come now, you two. I’ll show you around. I’d like to speak more about the picture I’d like to draw to–”

“U-Um…” Sumire stuttered, drawing everyone’s attention, and Akira instantly became alert as he saw the uncomfort on her face.

“Yes? What is it?” Kitagawa asked as he tilted his head curiously.

“I-I don’t want… to do any modelling…” Her voice was tiny, something that Akira could have missed if he wasn’t paying attention, but he could do nothing but focus on her as Sumire began fidgeting and playing with her hair. “I-I’m sorry, I just… don’t feel like it…”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Akira could see Kitagawa’s face. He was stunned, but that stunned look turned to disbelief and bordered on despair as he took a step forward. “But are you sure? I need you both to assist me, so please, won’t you reconsi–”

In an instant, Sumire was behind Akira as he stepped in between her and the quickly approaching blue haired teen. “Back off.” Akira’s face darkened as Kitagawa stared back at him, a defiant look in the teen’s eyes as he opened his mouth. However, Akira stopped him by taking a step forward, his eyes remaining unblinking and cold. “She said no. I won’t tell you a second time.”

In that moment, Kitagawa’s usual calm features broke as his black eyes widened and fear entered into the orbs. The silence between the two was palpable, and Kitagawa was the one to break it as he took a step backwards. “V-Very well,” he eventually said, a noticeable shake present within his voice, and he turned towards Ann as Akira kept his icy glare laser focused on him. “How about you? Will you come with me?”

“Um… Sure,” Ann replied, her own voice shaking slightly, but Kitagawa’s previously fearful face turned bright once again.

“Wonderful! Follow me, if you will!”

Akira blinked slowly as Kitagawa turned around and began walking away, almost as if nothing had happened, and Ann came into his view as she moved after him. “Well, see you guys later.”

“Wait, Lady Ann!” Forcing Akira to blink, Morgana burst out of Akira’s bag and onto his shoulder. “Will she be okay? What if that creep leads her behind a wall and tries to do something funn–”

“Morgana,” Akira turned his still sharp grey eyes to his right, inches away from the feline who instantly tensed. “Stay in the bag, stay quiet.”

“R-Right… Sorry,” Morgana apologized quickly before diving back into his bag, and Akira was quickly reminded of the redhead behind him as he felt a slight tug at his sleeve. 

“T-Thank you, Senpai,” Sumire whispered, and Akira turned around to see her staring down at the ground, her hand finding its place onto his other sleeve as he did.

“Uhh…” Before Akira could reply, Ryuji shifted to his right, and he glanced over to see the blond scratching his head. “Are we really gonna ‘appreciate’ the fine arts? Can’t we just go home?”

“S-Senpai, you said that we would–” Sumire began, but Akira cut her off by nodding his head as he noticed her red orbs widened and pleading.

“Sumire and I are going to look around, do what you want,” Akira answered both Ryuji and Sumire simultaneously before turning and he began moving into the exhibition room. Behind him, only one set of footsteps followed, and Sumire entered into his vision as she hurried next to him.

“Senpai, thank you.”

“People like him piss me off, so–”

“No, not just for that.” This time it was Sumire’s turn to interrupt, causing Akira to look down at her smiling shyly upwards. “I really do appreciate you keeping your word, Senpai. About walking around here with me, I mean.”

“No problem,” Akira shook his head as the two stopped in front of a medium sized painting, but he hardly paid it any mind as he focused on the girl next to him. “How’s practice going?”

“Coach really isn’t letting up on me, even though exams were this week…” Sumire sighed, but her smile persisted on her face as she made eye contact with Akira. “Sunday practices aren’t that bad, thankfully.”

“Is that why you wanted to walk around today?” Akira asked as they moved onto the next painting, though his attention remained mostly on Sumire. “To relax?”

“Mhm,” Sumire nodded, neither one of them paying any mind to the paintings anymore as they continued moving. “U-Um… Senpai?”

Akira’s eyebrows raised as Sumire stopped, and looked down to see her quickly becoming nervous. Although it wasn’t the same as before with Kitagawa as a very clear blush crept onto her cheeks. “What’s up?”  
“Is… Is it w-weird that I missed being with you?”

“We walk together from Shujin every day,” Akira responded, his grey eyes narrowing slightly as he slipped his hands into his pockets. “It was only a week, and we still saw each other, Sumire.”

“I-I know…” Sumire answered, her voice getting smaller once again as her eyes darted towards the wall to the right. “B-But I… I don’t know. I don’t know why I feel this way, Senpai, and it’s stupid and childish, but I was… lonely.” Sumire’s red eyes wavered, and Akira found his confusion giving way to… something else. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it spread a strange warmness throughout his chest. “I know that we still talk to each other and walk from school every day, but not being able to be with you after school or on the weekend...” Sumire’s hands clutched onto her plain skirt she was wearing, her eyes moving towards the ground.

“Sumire,” Without thinking, Akira reached out and placed his hand on Sumire’s shoulder, and their eyes reconnected once again as Sumire’s shot upwards. “I get it.” Akira really didn’t understand fully, but he grasped Sumire’s basis for feeling this way. ‘We spent nearly every day she had off doing something, even if it was only talking on the roof. I guess it was a shock to her when we didn’t do that for a week? That doesn’t make much sense, but if that’s how she feels…’

“S-Senpai…”

“Exams are done now,” Akira continued on, pushing the remainder of his confusion from his mind. He tried to fill his eyes with reassurance as he stared at Sumire’s still shaking red orbs, and it seemed to work somewhat as they brightened slightly. “We can see each other again after school if you want to.”

Akira was both surprised and not at all to see Sumire’s blush intensify, her cheeks being engulfed with red, but she kept her eyes locked with his. Though Akira could still see the timidity within her eyes, the twin orbs began shining as a smile crept onto Sumire’s face. “Akira-senpai…” Sumire whispered, and a miniscule smile flashed onto Akira’s face for the briefest of moments as her’s continued to grow. “Of course I want to. You’re my… my closest friend.”

This time, it was Akira’s eyes that widened; no matter how many times he heard that from her, it never failed to shock his mind. However, a quick breath helped him reset his face, but no words were coming to him. Of course she was his closest friend as well; he had affirmed that many times before, but right at that moment he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“Oh, Senpai!” Sumire suddenly exclaimed, and Akira found himself staring at Sumire’s back as she raced to his left. “This one is so pretty!” Following her, Akira looked after where she was pointing excitedly to see a painting of a mountain with a tree in the upper left-hand corner, but his attention was pulled back to his redheaded friend as she looked back at him. “Don’t you think so?”

“It’s somber,” Akira commented, trying and failing to move his eyes back onto the painting. Sumire’s sudden excitement confused him, sure, but he had caught a somewhat familiar voice behind him.

“It really is.” However, before Akira could turn, Sumire continued on, pulling his attention back solely onto her. Seeing how he wouldn’t be able to move away with Sumire totally engrossed in the black and white painting, Akira took a step to be right next to her and looked back up at it. “I feel a little lonely looking at it, but there’s something so… calming about it,” Sumire said with some awe in her voice. 

“Agreed,” Akira folded his arms as he studied the painting. ‘This one seems wildly different compared to the previous paintings we saw from before.’

“...hard to believe that it all stems from one person…”

“Hm?” Akira looked backwards finally, and his brow raised at the sight of the artist standing in the middle of the room. Madarame was speaking to a reporter and surrounded by cameras, and Akira found himself turning to face the old man.

“Senpai?” Sumire looked up and over at Akira, but thankfully he was able to keep his attention as she also turned towards Madarame. “Oh…”

“Where in the world does all your inspiration come from?” the reporter asked, and Akira watched as Madarame stroked his chin.  
“Well… it is rather difficult to put into words…” the old man began. “They naturally well up from my heart like bubbles rising one after another in the spring.”

“Naturally, you say?”  
“What’s important is to distance oneself from worldly desires such as money and fame. My atelier is a modest shack, but it is more than enough to pursue true beauty.”

Akira began moving towards Madarame and the reporter, his frown growing deeper with every step, and Sumire followed right beside him. 

“I see… So the act of emptying one’s mind gives rise to inner beauty. Still, to think we could hear the word ‘shack’ coming from the great artist Madarame.”

A few chuckles came from Madarame, and Akira stopped a good distance behind him and crossed his arms once again. “You would understand it if you saw it. Hahaha- Hm?” Before Akira could react, the old man turned around, and his eyes widened with realization. “Oh, I thought I felt something, but it is you two from yesterday. Has Yusuke spoken to you, dear?”

“U-Um…” Sumire stuttered, and almost instinctively Akira placed himself in front of her as her hands began playing with her skirt.

“She didn’t want to do it,” Akira responded plainly, but Madarame gave him a knowing smile and a nod. “And how do you know us?”

“Very well. Yusuke seemed excited about the prospect, but no matter,” Madarame chuckled before turning his gaze onto Akira. “Also, I remember those that my students befriend, and you two especially seemed to catch his eye. Though, it may seem weird to have an old man say these things. Hahaha…” After a brief chuckle, Madarame brought his attention back down onto Akira and Sumire. “Well, I hope you two have an excellent day, and thank you for considering Yusuke’s plea.”

“Thank you, sir,” Akira practically forced out of his mouth after Madarame bowed.

“Thank you…” Sumire muttered behind Akira, and as he turned he suddenly reached down.

“Madarame-san is actually here?!”

“Over there!”

“He’s even talking to customers! Maybe he’ll talk with me!”

Grabbing hold of Sumire’s hand, Akira tried to be as gentle as possible as he rushed towards the exit before the mob of people could reach Madarame. 

“S-Senpai!” Sumire exclaimed, but Akira kept his focus as he kept her close to his body. The first part of the crowd reached them, numerous bodies pushing and shoving against Akira’s. Breathing in and then breathing out, Akira tried his damndest to keep calm, but the low roar of the frantic mob, the visual chaos all around him, the constant crawling feeling all over his skin; it was too much for him. He wanted to scream, to punch out. Reaching the end of his limit, Akira’s free hand closed tightly, the pain coming from his mouth due to clenching his teeth clouding his mind even further.

“Akira-senpai!” Then, something broke through all the muddiness within his mind. The hand he had desperately been trying to hold onto was slipping out, he felt, and he looked backwards only for his chest to squeeze onto his heart. Sumire’s face was covered with fear and panic, her eyes wide open and welling with tears. Her lips were quivering, and Akira saw her chest moving up and down rapidly as her breathing shortened. “I… I’m…!”

Everything that had occupied Akira’s mind; all the irritation, annoyance, and pain left, only to be replaced with one singular goal. Akira readjusted his grip on Sumire’s hand, holding it tighter than before, before focusing his eyes on the exit. “Move!” he roared, but the mindless people pushing around him didn’t listen as they simply continued rushing towards Madarame. However, Akira had reached the end of the crowd by that point, but he didn’t stop moving quickly ahead until he and Sumire were a good ways away from the exhibition.

“Sumire, are you oka–” Akira began, turning around to check on his friend, when he was forced to stop as a head gently hit his chest with two hands clutching right next to it. 

“I-I’m sorry Senpai…” Sumire whimpered, soft sniffles coming in between words.

“For what?” Akira managed to say. His right hand began to move upwards towards her head, but it stopped as if he didn’t know what to do with it. 

“I… I’m so weak. I felt l-like I couldn’t move, and… and I made you do all the work…” Sumire’s hands tightened onto Akira’s white shirt, and Akira had to fight off the slight, dull pain from his still present wounds. “I… I–”

The people around Akira no longer mattered; it was as if they weren’t there as he focused solely on his best friend, and his hand that was hanging in the air began falling, softly landing onto Sumire’s soft, red hair. “Sumire.”

“W-Wha…” Sumire uttered, her puffy eyes meeting Akira’s as her head slowly moved upwards.

“It’s okay now,” Akira said calmly, allowing a small smile onto his face. “You’re safe; it doesn’t matter how it happened. Besides, it happened so quickly that neither of us could react in time.”

“B-But… you grabbed my hand so quickly…” A small but noticeable amount of red pushed its way onto Sumire’s face, but their eyes remained locked. 

“I heard the crowd before I saw them. I guess my body reacted on its own,” Akira responded as he forced his smile to grow a little brighter. “You can let go of me now, Sumire.”

“O-Oh!” Sumire instantly yelped as a flash of realization entered onto her face, and she jumped backwards, releasing her grasp on Akira’s shirt. “I-I’m sorry, S-Senpai! I-I didn’t know… I-I mean, I…”

“It’s okay, Sumire,” Akira waved her down, but he could see Sumire was far too gone as her eyes blinked rapidly. “Sumire, just breathe.”

“R-Right…” Her chest rose and fell quickly as she clearly tried to calm herself down, and Akira couldn’t help but feel a slight amount of amusement as he stared at her round eyes trying to rid themselves of the panic within them. However, that feeling left as Sumire finally was able to breathe deeply, closing her eyes before reopening them and staring up at Akira. “T-Thank you, Senpai.”

“No problem,” Akira nodded, his smile falling as he looked around; they were in the accessway overlooking Shibuya, and there were people constantly moving around him and Sumire. Sumire’s face also fell as Akira pulled his hand away, but he was becoming far too aware of the crowd to pay the change on her face any mind.

“There you two are!” Turning his head to his right, Akira let out a sigh. Ryuji and Ann were running over towards him and Sumire, clear irritation pasted onto his face. “Jeez, did you guys have to ditch us?”

“Lady Ann! Are you okay?” Morgana burst out of Akira’s bag, and Akira felt a hot wave of irritation pass through his head.

“Yeah, I am,” Ann replied, though her voice was filled with a more questioning tone. 

“Man, I thought I was a goner when I got caught up in that crowd…” Ryuji groaned, but his face lit up with realization as he began reaching down into his pocket. “Though, that reminded me… Take a look at this.”

“What is it? A… post on the Phan-Site?” Sumire asked, tilting her head as she moved right next to Akira. 

“‘A master of the Japanese arts is plagiarizing his pupil’s work. Only his public face is shown on TV.’” Akira read the post, and Ryuji sat down against the railing as he paused.

“I saw it earlier, but I only thought about it when I heard Madarame and shack during that interview he had,” he explained. “Here, there’s more. ‘His treatment of the pupils who live with him is awful. He teaches them nothing and bosses them around. He treats them inhumanely, as if disciplining a dog…”

“Abuse on top of plagiarism, hm?” Morgana muttered, and Akira already felt Sumire’s eyes staring at him.

“Senpai, shouldn’t you…”

“Yeah,” Akira nodded, and the two blondes looked over at him as he pulled out his phone. “Look.”

“Wait, what?!” Ann and Ryuji exclaimed simultaneously, but Akira glared at both of them as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, not before closing the Meta-Nav.

“I checked yesterday, but now is as good as time as any to tell you two.”

“Wait, why didn’t you tell us yesterday then?” Ann asked in an accusatory tone, and Akira shrugged at her.

“It wasn’t necessary information at the time.”

“So wait…” Ryuji began as Ann’s face fell. “If this is true, this could be a huge scandal!”

“But… a man like that, doing such a thing?” Ann muttered as she looked towards the ground. 

“Maybe we can ask that Shadow from earlier, Senpai,” Sumire added as she and Akira made eye contact.

“That post might not be about Madarame,” Akira shrugged again. “Besides, it disappeared after we defeated it, remember? Who knows if we would be able to find it again.”

“O-Oh, right…” Sumire looked downwards, but Akira forced himself to not focus on her too much as he looked at the two blondes. 

“We need more information.”

“Yeah, you’re right… Wait!” Ryuji turned his head excitedly towards Ann. “What did you do about the whole modeling thing?”

“Kitagawa-kun gave me his contact info,” Ann replied. “And the address to Madarame’s atelier.”

“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’, dude?” Akira stared plainly back at Ryuji as he got to his feet, an eager grin covering his face. “This is perfect timing. There’s too much overlap, and we know he’s got a Palace.”

“Ryuji-sen- Ryuji?” Sumire blinked slowly at Ryuji, a similar expression of confusion on her face as was on Akira’s. 

“Let’s go tomorrow. Right after school, we’re gonna be off to Madarame’s house!”

“Huh? You want me to model tomorrow?!” Ann exclaimed before her face turned downwards. “This is too sudden…”

“We’re just going to talk to him,” Akira interrupted, his eyes closed as he leaned against the railing. However, they opened as he was met with silence from the others, and he looked over at Sumire. “We’re all done for today. See you two tomorrow. Let’s go, Sumire.”

* * *

“Is… that it?”

As Akira followed behind the two blondes, Sumire at his side, he looked towards the rustic house to their left. It was modest and lonely, nothing like what Akira expected from a famous artist. ‘Though this might not be his actual house…’ As Akira thought more about it, the less it made sense; just why would someone like Madarame live here, especially if that post on the Phan-site was about him and was true.

“This is the right address…” Ann replied hesitantly, and Akira frowned as the two blondes simply stood still.

“Move,” Akira let out an annoyed sigh as he walked past Ryuji and Ann, Sumire keeping to his side as he approached the door. 

“Wait, shouldn’t I be the one to ring it?!” Ann exclaimed as Akira began reaching for the doorbell, and in response he shrugged and stepped aside. Ann quickly took his place and gingerly pressed her index finger onto the doorbell, sending a buzzing sound through the air.

“Who is it?” Kitagawa’s voice came from the speaker above the doorbell. “Sensei is currently–”

“Um, it’s Takamaki.”

“I’ll be right out!” Kitagawa exclaimed, and not even five seconds passed before the front door slid open. “Takamaki-sa- Oh, you brought them as well.”

“Hey,” Ryuji greeted, and Akira resisted the urge to grind his teeth. He didn’t want Ryuji to blow this for them. “Sorry, but uh… we ain’t here to talk about the modeling thing. There’s something we gotta ask you. Is it true that Madarame’s plagiarizin’ stuff? He’s abusin’ people too, ye–”

“We heard rumors about that,” Akira interrupted, and suddenly all eyes were on him as he stared back at a progressively irritated Kitagawa. “We then figured it would be best to come to you to confirm or deny them.”

“Are you two serious?” Kitagawa incredulously asked, but Akira kept his face completely still as he studied the blue haired boy’s face. 

“We read about it online!” Ryuji exclaimed as he pulled out his phone, and Akira couldn’t do anything as Kitagawa approached and scanned the page. Though, what came next shocked him as a flurry of chuckles came from Kitagawa.

“Preposterous! Not only is the plagiarism impossible, but abuse? He welcomes pupils into his own home! This is no act of violence; it is charity!” Kitagawa shook his head. “And I’m the one residing here and studying under him. I’m saying it’s not true, so it’s beyond doubt.”

“You could be lyin’!”

Kitagawa swiped in front of him, a wild look entering into his dark eyes as he forced Ryuji to take a step backwards. “I had no family when Sensei took me in and raised me into what you see now! If you continue to ridicule the man I owe my life to, you will rue this day!”

“Calm down,” Akira began; this wasn’t going at all like he had planned out. Though, he had already gathered more than enough information.

“Calm down?!” Yusuke shouted at him and took a step towards Akira, who kept his grey eyes level and steady. To his side, he saw Sumire begin moving towards him, worry on her face, but Akira discreetly held out his hand. “You come here, mock Sensei, and then demand me to calm down?”

“Yusuke?” From the doorway, Madarame appeared as if from nowhere, drawing Akira’s attention immediately as Yusuke flipped around. “What’s the matter? I heard you yelling.”

“These people are slandering you with baseless rumors!”

“We wanted to know the truth, not try and accuse anyone,” Akira butt in, trying his damndest to fix the situation they were in. Knowing Sumire was right next to him helped him stay calm, helped him keep the facade up. 

“Forgive them, Yusuke,” Madarame spoke calmly. “They seem sincere, and they were probably worried about their friend after hearing about a rumor online.”

Akira forced himself to nod, holding himself back from gritting his teeth. There was something extremely off-putting about the situation, making his stomach turn.

“...Understood, Sensei,” Yusuke eventually stated, nodding his head dejectedly.

“Well, I doubt that a cranky old man like myself could be liked by everyone,” Madarame continued on before making eye contact with Akira. “I appreciate you searching for the truth in all the lies, young man. Oh, and I’m sorry to have butt in on your conversation, but I do have neighbors, so please try and keep it down. Alright, I must be heading back inside.” Madarame smiled warmly at Akira before nodding at everyone and walking back into the old home.

“I’m sorry…” Kitagawa began, bowing towards Akira once Madarame was fully gone. “That was discourteous of me, and I have seemed to make your friend here worried.” Akira glanced over at Sumire to see that, indeed, her face was mired with even more worry and concern, but there was something else within her red eyes. It was a fierceness that Akira only saw within the Metaverse, but he couldn’t focus on her for long as Kitagawa began moving once again. 

“Oh, I know! You’ll be able to see Sensei’s true colors if you saw that painting.” As Kitagawa pulled out his phone, Akira let his eyes fall onto the screen as it lit up, and he was met with a beautiful portrait of a woman clothed in red staring downwards at… nothing. “It’s his maiden work as well as his most representative piece - it’s titled ‘Sayuri,’ and it inspired me to become an artist.”

“Wow… it’s amazing,” Sumire whispered as she stared wide-eyed at the screen.

“I don’t know much about this fine-art stuff, but even I can tell this is impressive…” Ryuji stated, but Akira kept his eyes focused on the clouds at the bottom of the painting.

“Seeing you two for the first time, I felt the same powerful emotion as when I first saw this painting,” Kitagawa began as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, and Akira was put on guard once again as he felt Sumire tense up right beside him. “Oh, I know that you do not wish to model, and I understand. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Though,” Kitagawa turned towards Ann and bowed, “I believe that drawing you will aid me in my pursuit of true beauty. So please, I implore you: seriously consider my offer.” Before anyone could respond, he straightened himself back up. “I’m sorry that you took the time to come all this way, but I must assist Sensei today. I hope we can discuss this further another time. If you’ll excuse me, then.”

Kitagawa turned around and disappeared within the house, the door closing behind him and leaving the five alone in front of the house. Akira was the first to move, turning around and he began to move away, and he saw Sumire do the same as she was right next to him.

“Those two… seem like nice guys, don’t they?” Ryuji asked as they reached the other side of the street. 

“He has a Palace,” Akira stated simply as he stared through Ryuji.  
“Maybe… it’s another Madarame?” Ann suggested, but Akira shook his head as he pulled out his phone. After going to the Meta-Nav, he turned it around and showed the four Thieves in front of him once again. 

“‘Ichiryusai Madarame,’” Akira began. “We just need a place and a distortion for the two other keywords.”  
“Dude, do you really think he’s a bad guy?” Ryuji shook his head, his eyes showing his clear conflicting feelings. “I mean… I dunno anymore.”

Akira closed his eyes, trying to stave off the coming irritation. Luckily, Sumire shifted to his right, and he reopened them to see her staring up at him. “Senpai, didn’t that post say that his public face is shown on TV? Maybe… Maybe he’s hiding something.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Akira nodded his head, latching his attention onto Sumire as he held his phone up, before he realized something. “Was the Nav picking up our conversation? ‘Shack’ and ‘plagiarism’ are already on here.”

“Really?!” Sumire got onto her tiptoes as Akira angled his phone towards her, and the two blondes came over to look as well.

“That only leaves the ‘what’ that Madarame mistakes this shack for,” Morgana stated as he licked his paw while sitting on the railing.

“Like how Kamoshida thought the school was a castle?” Sumire tilted her head towards Morgana, who nodded.

“That’s right.”

“What the hell could he think this place is?” Ryuji muttered, clearly wracking his brain. “Jail! Warehouse! Guidance counselin’ office! Might as well add farm!”

 _“No candidates found,”_ the Nav responded, and Akira shook his head.   
“Senpai, Madarame is an artist, correct?” Akira looked over to see Sumire’s eyes sparkling with realization.

“Right,” he responded, nodding his head. He knew where she was going with it, but decided to let her continue on.

“So… maybe he thinks it’s a Museum?”

_“Beginning Navigation.”_

Suddenly, the world all around Akira began shifting, the familiar feeling of nausea hitting him as he closed his eyes. Then, as soon as it came, it passed, and he reopened his eyes to a familiar sight. Sumire was in her black leotard and three sectioned tail coat, her black mask adorning her face over her red eyes.

“Whoa, did we seriously get it right?!” Ryuji shouted as he stared down at his hands, now covered in his yellow gloves.

“Why didn’t you tell me that we were going in?!” Morgana exclaimed, but Akira shook his head as his eyes scanned their surroundings.

“Didn’t have time to,” he replied, though his attention was quickly being pulled elsewhere as Sumire also turned around with him.

“Wow…” Sumire whispered, her voice filling with a combination of shock and slight disgust. “This is what he thinks of his home?”

“This is insane,” Ryuji added on, and Akira nodded slightly at that. In front of them was a massive golden building, spanning much longer than the dinky old shack that they had previously been looking at. Additionally, it had turned into night time, but there were numerous lights keeping the area lit up. There were hundreds of people lined up in front of the building, Akira noted as he began moving forward with Sumire at his side.

“This is Madarame’s Palace,” Morgana stated matter-of-factly.

“Man, are we really gonna have to wait in this long li- Wait, where are you going?” As Ryuji spoke, Akira braced his legs as he approached a van sitting next to the long wall blocking their entrance and sprung upwards, pulling himself up with ease before jumping up again onto the wall. With Sumire beside him, Akira landed on the opposite side of the golden wall, three more thuds behind him signalling that the others followed suit.

“Follow me,” Akira whispered, though only Sumire probably heard him as he began to his right. He quickly opened his Third Eye; it was far too dark out, and even with the additional lights outside, it would have been hard to notice the guards slinking around without the special ability. Reaching the end of the walkway, Akira turned his attention upwards and, before Ryuji or anyone else could ask a question, he pulled himself up onto the nearest stone pedestal. He jumped from pedestal to pedestal, stealing a glance to his side to make sure Sumire was still with him, and they quickly made their way onto a fairly narrow wall leading towards the main building.

“Dude, where are we goi–” Ryuji began asking, but a quick glance backwards from Akira was all it took for him to be quiet. Resuming his walk forward, Akira found his mind still calm, and as he climbed upwards onto the roof of the building, he quickly spotted an open pane of the glass ceiling.

“Here’s our opening,” Akira stated simply, turning towards Morgana. “Do you have anything to get us down there?”

“Is that even a question?” Morgana asked back with a smirk on his face, and without another word he waddled up towards the opening. Seemingly out of nowhere, a rope materialized into the cat’s paw, and he quickly tied it around a nearby tube before flinging it down the open gap. “Are we ready, Joker?”

Akira nodded, turning towards Sumire right beside him to see her already staring back at him, and readjusted his gloves as he looked back downwards. “Let’s go, Violet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope the wait wasn't too bad for this chapter! This one took a bit longer, mainly because... the section between palaces is pretty boring, at least for Kamoshida and Madarame. There's not much going on, but I hope that I was able to make this interesting and fun, and I cannot wait to get into the can of worms that is Madarame coming up. Until next time!


	23. Art Troubles

Blinking slowly, Violet’s eyes scanned the interior of the Palace. They were in a dimly lit room, standing on top of an elevated plane, and Violet instantly noticed the numerous paintings spanning the walls. Without a sound, Joker and Violet jumped down onto the blue carpeted floor and began walking forward.

“It’s quiet in here,” Mona began, his and the blondes’ footsteps right behind Violet and Joker. “A little too quiet.”

“No Shadows around,” Joker added on as he nodded his head, and Violet found herself making eye contact with him as he turned his head towards her. “Violet, you see the paintings are shifting, right?”

Violet looked back forward, and instantly her eyes widened. It was exactly as Joker said; all of the paintings on the walls were moving. “Y-Yeah, but… why are they, Senpai?”

“Ain’t Palaces reflections of someone’s heart? Maybe Madarame has somethin’ to do with this,'' Skull spoke up as he moved to Joker’s left, and he shrugged as Violet and Joker looked over at him, both with their eyebrows raised. “What? I pay attention sometimes.”

“Skull’s right, so we may want to go check them out,” Mona said, and Joker nodded silently before resuming his gait forward. As Violet walked right next to him, her eyes scanned the immediate area once again, but she still didn’t see anything besides the large paintings. A small knot began taking form in her gut; why was it so quiet? Where were all the Shadows?

“‘Inouye Juro, sixteen years old,’” Joker read, his eyes scanning the plaque next to the painting of a young man, and Violet’s stomach began churning even more. A frown crossed Joker’s face as he straightened himself. “That’s all it says.”

“Is… Is that the artist’s name? These usually have the title of the painting on them, right?” Panther asked, to which Joker nodded back at her. “Something doesn’t feel right about this…”

“Joker, let’s go look at the other paintings,” Mona said, but Joker had already turned to his right and moved past Violet.

“Keep your eyes up, Violet,” Joker whispered as Violet caught up with him once again, and she opened her mouth as her head spun towards him. “I need you to stay focused.”

“R-Right…” Violet nodded as the two stopped at the plaque next to the painting beside the doorway leading to the next room, and she took a deep breath in to steady her nerves. ‘I can’t let Senpai down.’

“Another name and age,” Joker’s frown deepened, something that was wiped off his face as he shook his head twice. “There’s more paintings in the next room. Let’s go check them out.”

“What the hell…” Skull muttered as the group entered the next room, and Violet found her inner turmoil matching the disbelief in his voice as she looked around at the sheer number of paintings littering the walls, all of them of young men and women with some clearly in highschool while some seemed older.

“They all have full names and ages,” Panther shook her head, and Violet could see the fear in her eyes as they walked down a line of paintings. “Is this entire floor portraits of people?”

“Seems like it,” Joker replied, his hands in his pocket and his head straight forward. He seemed relaxed and nonchalant about the whole situation, but Violet knew better, especially after stealing a glance towards him. His eyes were focused beneath his mask, and Violet found her senses sharpening as she took her eyes off of him and walked towards the angled door with Joker to her side.

“None of this makes any sense,” Panther started, and Violet and Joker turned around to see her frowning at the ground. “Madarame is known for his many art styles, but all of these look nearly identical to each other. This is way different than what I saw at the exhibition.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Violet nodded, and as she turned back around her eyes burst wide open. “S-Senpai? Isn’t that Nakanohara?!”

Joker slowly turned around and, once he was facing the portrait Violet was shakily pointing towards, he let out a small sigh and nodded. “Natsuhiko Nakanohara, it’s on the plaque with his age as well.”

“I don’t get it, man,” Skull shook his head as all five approached the portrait. “Why’s there a portrait of him in here? Didn’t he shit-talk Madarame in Mementos? And why’s his name written under it?”

“You’re right,” Panther responded, the same frown that was on Skull’s face covering her own. “Usually art has like, the title of the piece or the artist’s name, right?”  
“Usually, yes,” Joker flipped to the left, his tail coat floating for a brief moment before falling back to the ground. “But this is a Palace. Let’s keep looking.”

On either side of Violet, there were even more portraits of highschoolers and adults alike, all of them shimmering and shifting within their borders. If it weren’t for the boy right next to her, her nerves would have certainly gotten to her by now, but the feeling of unease deep within her stomach not only persisted, but worsened with every step. 

‘I have to be strong… Kamoshida’s Palace also made me feel this way, and I was able to get through it,’ Violet reassured herself, which actually worked in some capacity as the unbearable knot loosened somewhat. 

“Hm?”

Violet’s head shot over to Joker at the sound of his voice, her thoughts breaking instantly as she saw him staring up at something. However, as she was about to ask what was wrong, a gasp came from Panther behind her.

“There’s… no way…”

Following Joker’s gaze upwards, Violet’s stomach fell to the floor at the sight of the large portrait opposite another doorway. “Senpai, that’s…”

“Yeah,” Joker nodded, and Violet forced her eyes off the portrait to see him concentrated on the plaque next to the painting. “Yusuke Kitagawa.”

“The hell, man?!” Skull scratched the back of his head. “Why’s he here as well?” 

Her eyes plastered on him, Violet watched as Joker turned to face the opening directly behind them. “They’re Madarame’s pupils, or at least former ones,” he responded simply before beginning to walk towards the stairs leading down into another room. 

Violet was both shocked and not all; if the plagiarism rumor online was true and Madarame was actually stealing from his pupils, then seeing them as nothing but his own pieces of art made sense. But still, the thought horrified her.

“Wait, for real?” Skull shouted, and Joker stopped and looked backwards as Violet and the other three turned to face him. “Wasn’t it only Yusuke when we went to Madarame’s place?”

“That’s why I said former ones,” Joker replied, no emotions showing on his face. “Madarame only has one left, and that’s him.”

“Senpai,” Violet began moving towards Joker, her mind catching up with her and all the information hitting her at once. “Does Madarame think of them as his own paintings?”

A second passed by as a hint of thought entered Joker’s eyes before he shrugged. “It’s possible. That’s what all these are leading to, but,” he paused as he turned on his heels as Violet reached his side, “there’s nothing concrete saying that. We need to keep moving.”

Violet nodded as she matched Joker’s stride, and the two made their way down the staircase and into a large open room with the other three following behind them. Glancing over at her best friend, Violet noticed Joker’s eyes focused, but before she could ask him what was wrong Joker silently increased his gait as he approached what appeared to be a brochure stand.

“Violet, go open that box nearest to us,” he said without turning around, snatching one of the brochures and opening it immediately. 

“Senpai?” Violet tilted her head as Joker turned back towards her and pointed to something behind her. Following his finger, Violet’s eyes widened; there was a purple box on a low pedestal on the other side of the room. “Got it,” she nodded before jogging past the multi-colored couches and over to the box, and it immediately sprung open after she turned the lock holding it shut. Inside the box, Violet found three dolls made out of straw, and as she picked them up, she winced. A slight amount of pain spread from her palm and down her arm as she carried the objects, but it wasn’t enough to do any actual harm to her. ‘What are these things? It’s like… I feel something in them…’

“Violet,” Joker called out, and Violet nearly dropped the three items as she spun around. Her four teammates were staring at her, and she rushed back towards them, stopping in front of Joker. “What’d you find?”

“These three doll thingies,” Violet held up the creepy straw dolls. “Senpai, when I picked them up, my arm began hurting.”

“Let me see.” As the dolls left Violet’s hand, all the pain dispersed with them. It was both a relief and very much confusing to her, but both feelings were kept at bay as she watched Joker turn the dolls around in his hand.

“What’re those for?” Skull asked, breaking through the small bout of silence, but Joker continued staring down at the dolls. However, he didn’t stay like that for long as he grabbed a single doll with his opposite hand and held it out in front of him. Then, without warning, three dark tendrils shot out from the center of the doll and slammed into the blue floor. Violet jumped backwards away from the attack, just about to summon her rapier to her hand before she realized what had actually happened. “Jeez! Can’t you warn us before you do that!?” 

“So it expels cursed energy, but it gets destroyed after using it once…” Joker muttered, and Violet saw the remnants of the doll fall from his hand before disappearing into smoke as it hit the ground. “That’s useful.”

“I don’t follow. Like, at all,” Panther stated as she blinked slowly at Joker.

“It’s too much to explain everything right now,” Joker shook his head before making eye contact with Violet. “But I think it hurt when you held onto them because you have an innate vulnerability to cursed energy, Violet.”

“A… vulnerability?” Tilting her head to the side, Violet stared confusedly at Joker.

“I’ll tell you more after we’re done today, but for now we need to keep going.” Turning on his heels, Joker tucked the remaining two dolls into his coat, and Violet jumped forward next to him just as he began moving towards the opening nearest to them. She was still very much confused, but she managed to keep the questions from flowing out of her mouth, at least for the moment.

“Oh Senpai, what was in that pamphlet?” Violet asked as the two made their way around the circular hallway, and instead of a verbal response Joker just held out the object in question as the five entered a large circular room. “Oh, it’s a map? That’s useful for us, Senpai!”  
“Agreed,” Joker said, and Violet’s face scrunched a little as she heard a slight amount of intrigue in his voice. However, it cleared up as she looked back up, with her eyes now widening from the giant golden structure in the middle of the room.

“What the hell is that?” Skull breathed out as the five moved towards the golden sculpture spiraling upwards with what appeared to be people in it.

“‘The Infinite Spring’?” Violet read from the plaque below it. “‘A conglomerate work of art that the great director Madarame created with his own funds. These individuals must offer their ideas to the director for the rest… of their lives…’” Trailing off, Violet found it becoming harder and harder for her to speak. Her face was pale and her throat was closed off, the pit in her stomach twisting and turning. 

“‘Those who cannot do so,’” Joker continued where she left off, and Violet felt herself relax. The overwhelming anxiety she was under didn’t disappear completely, but there was something undeniably comforting about the seriousness in Joker’s grey eyes. “‘...have no worth living!’”

“Holy shit…” Skull muttered before turning towards Joker, and Violet could see disgust and anger written all across his face. “What a phoney geezer! This is about that plagiarism shit, right Joker?”

“His pupils are his property,” Mona waddled forward, stopping just in front of the sculpture. “That’s what he sees them as. He doesn’t deserve the title of artist if this is true.”

“Why’s Yusuke keepin’ quiet about this? He’s got no reason to cover this up!” Skull shouted, and all eyes quickly fell onto Joker as he stepped forward. 

“He feels he owes Madarame,” he said simply as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

“Right, because he was taken in at a young age…” Violet looked down at the ground.

“Joker,” before Joker could respond to her, Mona jumped into the air, gaining everyone’s attention. “I think we should get more concrete evidence before we decide to target him.”

“What?!” Skull shouted, his face wrinkled with shock and annoyance as Violet glanced over at him. “Why?”

“We don’t know that much about Madarame, and we need concrete evidence that these crimes actually took place,” Mona responded calmly, but Violet was now focused on Joker as he let out a sigh. 

“He has a Palace, though. I thought that was enough for us,” Joker stated, but Mona furiously shook his massive head.

“We had evidence about Kamoshida’s wrongdoings when we decided to target him, and your guys’ backs were against the wall. This is new territory for even myself; just because he’s distorted doesn’t necessarily mean he’s actually committed any crimes.”

“To have a Palace means that your desires are distorted,” Joker countered. “It’s more likely than not that he has done something considering everything we’ve seen.”

“I agree, but we need to play it safe, Joker,” Mona sighed. 

“Man, what a pain in the ass…” Skull muttered as he scratched the back of his head.

“I agree with Mona,” Panther said, everyone’s heads turning towards her as she nodded. “I’ll contact Kitagawa-kun about modelling for him. Maybe then we can get some more information on Madarame, since he’s the closest one to him.”

“Wait, you’re really planning on doing that?!” Mona exclaimed as he sprung into the air, his tiny arms and legs kicking out wildly, but everyone seemed to ignore him as Joker turned towards Panther.

“You’re doing that tomorrow, Panther,” Joker said with almost a growl in his voice, and Violet watched as he stuck his hands into his pockets as he began making his way towards the leftmost doorway. Violet began running after him after a moment’s pause, quickly falling into step right next to the teen, and she could feel the irritation radiating off of him.

“Wait, you guys are coming with me!” Both Violet and Joker stopped in their tracks, Violet looking back to see Panther’s nervous face. “I wouldn’t feel at all confident going by myself…”

“Okay, Panther,” Violet nodded as she looked back over her shoulder before turning to face Joker. She immediately recognized the irritation building within the grey orbs along with the tension in his shoulders, and she couldn’t prevent her eyes from resting on his figure. “Senpai, are you okay?”

Joker closed his eyes, and Violet heard him take a deep breath, giving time for the others to walk towards them. “It’s nothing,” he said, his eyes flashing back open and he turned towards the doorway in one motion. Violet had to spring forward after him as his long legs carried him quickly through the circular hallway, but she managed to fall in right beside him once again as they climbed up the stairs and into the long rectangular room.

“So… we’re goin’ to Madarame’s shack tomorrow?” Skull asked behind them, but they both kept their eyes forward as they led the group towards their entrance point.

“As long as Yusuke agrees to meet with Panther, then yes,” Mona responded.

“Have it later in the day, Panther,” Joker stated before reaching up and pulling himself onto the platform leading to their entrance to the Palace. Violet knew exactly why he wanted to have it later in the day, and she knew there was no way of convincing him otherwise. It did make her chest feel warm, knowing that Joker didn’t want her to miss anything important with the group, and she wore a small smile on her face as she stayed by Joker’s side as they made their way back to the entrance of the Palace.

* * *

Sumire plopped down on her bed, letting out a sigh as her body relaxed. She wasn’t tired necessarily, but she could still feel the effects of the Metaverse on her body. 

“I’m lucky that I don’t have any homework…” she whispered to herself before feeling a vibration coming from her right. Reaching over, Sumire grabbed her phone laying on her bed, and she unlocked it to see that Ann had messaged the group chat.

_Ann: Would you really forgive someone unconditionally if you owe your life to them?_

_Ann: I’m not so sure anymore._

_Ann?_

_Ryuji: What’re you bringing this up for now?_

_Ann: To Kitagawa-kun, Madarame isn’t a problem. In fact, he feels he owes his life to him._

_Ann: Maybe this is an extreme line of thinking, but…_

_Ann: Do we have to act if the evil person isn’t causing any trouble now?_

_Ryuji: I mean… I get where you’re comin from._

Sumire frowned at her phone, her stomach twisting as her body tensed. What Ann was saying did make some amount of sense, but at the same time…

_I think we do, Ann._

_Ryuji: Yeah, I agree with Sumire. If it was up to me, I would never forgive that bastard!_

Sumire’s frown deepened; where was Akira?

_Senpai, what do you think?_

_Akira: He has a Palace, and we saw how he thought there._

_Ryuji: Exactly! We know how he thinks about Yusuke and all his other pupils, so I still don’t get why we need to wait!_

_Ann: Because we need to make sure that the crimes actually happened, Ryuji._

At the bottom of her screen, Sumire saw Akira typing, but after a few moments of waiting nothing came. ‘Is he okay?’ she thought, though before she could ask him what was wrong, a text from Ann interrupted her.

_Ann: I’ll message Kitagawa-kun tonight, okay? And you all better come with me tomorrow!_

_Ryuji: Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first time._

_Got it._

Just as Sumire was about to turn her phone off, she stopped and found her phone app. Finding Akira’s name, she paused as her thumb was about to hit “call”. ‘Is he still awake? Would I just be bothering him? But… I want to talk to him more…’

“Oh!” As she was thinking, her thumb managed to graze up against the button, and Sumire instantly flung her phone up against her ear. “Hi Senpai!”

“Hey Sumire, what’s up?” Akira asked, his voice as monotone as ever.

“I… wanted to talk to you more about what Ann-senpai brought up just now,” Sumire began bringing herself up to a sitting position with her messy hair falling down in front of her face, which she quickly brushed it away before taking in a breath. “It’s right for us to change Madarame’s heart, right? Even if Kitagawa-kun doesn’t think anything is wrong with him?”

“It is,” Akira responded, a slight amount of irritation creeping into his voice. “He’s distorted enough to have a Palace; I don’t care about anything else.”

“But we have our rules, right?” Sumire asked, trying to ignore the last part of what he said.

“Right.”

As a brief silence fell between Sumire and Akira, Sumire’s eyes lit up slightly. “Hey Senpai?”

“Yeah?”

“About what you were talking about earlier, with those dolls. Can you tell me more about that?” 

“Sure,” Akira said simply, and Sumire perked up immediately. “As far as I know, our Personas have affinities towards the elemental spells we cast within the Metaverse. I don’t know how many different types of elements there are, but I do know that Arsene and Cendrillon use Cursed and Blessed energy respectively. Have you noticed that some spells affect Personas and Shadows more than others?”

“Mhm,” Sumire nodded her head, her heavy eyes focused as she was completely engrossed in Akira’s explanation.

“The only explanation to this is that Personas and Shadows have vulnerabilities and strengths versus certain elements.”

Sumire couldn’t say anything; she had never even thought about that. Her mouth hung wide open, and it began to form into a smile as she didn’t expect him to be this passionate when explaining things.

“Sumire? Are you still there?”

Sumire jolted out of her thoughts, and she was very grateful they were talking over the phone as her cheeks turned bright red. “Y-Yes! I appreciate you telling me that, Senpai! I’m amazed that you found all of that out so quickly!”

“Try concentrating inwards, on Cendrillon,” Akira stated, and Sumire did just that as she closed her eyes. Without much effort, she felt connected with her Persona, the blue skinned woman floating gracefully within her mind. Then, with a little more effort, Sumire felt something change up in her mind. “Do you feel anything?”

“Yes…” Sumire responded, trying to hold her concentration. “I… I can see Cendrillon and I can feel her power.”

“Good. Is there anything else you can feel?”

“No…” Sumire grit her teeth after a moment; she was a disappointment. Even after everything Akira had done to explain it to her, even going so far as to help her understand the concept more, she couldn’t do it. “I’m sorry, Senpa- Oh!”

“What’s wrong?” To Sumire, Akira’s voice was distant as she focused entirely on her Persona. A strange aura was surrounding the blue-skinned woman; it was black with traces of dark red, and a bright red streak outlined the Persona in front of her. 

“C...d … Cu….d…”A single word was being repeated, but Sumire couldn’t make out what it was no matter how much she strained her ears. Then, as her attention was on the garbled, nonsensical noise around her, the colors shifted, and Sumire was met with a brilliant light coming off of Cendrillon along with a blue lining all around it. Her ears were filled with another sound, but this time she was able to make it out. “Bless… Bless…” 

“Senpai, I… saw something!” Sumire exclaimed, Cendrillon vanishing in an instant as her eyes shot open. “Cendrillon was suddenly surrounded by a strange light, and then after that another light surrounded her, with the first looking a lot more threatening.”

“Was it a dark light?” Akira asked, and Sumire nodded even though Akira couldn’t see him.

“It was. Do you know what it is, Senpai?” 

“It’s Cursed energy,” Akira responded, and Sumire’s eyes became as large as dinner plates. “In my experience, that should mean that Cendrillion is vulnerable to that element.”

“I… did hear something, Senpai. The first word I didn’t understand when I was hearing it, but I think it was saying Cursed.” As Sumire sat on her bed, waiting for a response from Akira, she let out a long yawn. Her heavy eyelids began pushing downwards as the lethargy she had tried to push off of her returned.

“You sound tired,” Akira commented. “We’ll talk about this at another time, Sumire. We’re going to Madarame’s tomorrow after your practice, so rest up.”

“I will, Senpai,” Sumire said sleepily, rubbing her eyes underneath her glasses. “Thank you again. Goodnight, Senpai.”

“‘Night, Sumire.”

* * *

“I thought it would just be you today, Takamaki-san,” Kitagawa said behind his canvas. His eyes passed over the three thieves sitting along the wall, and Akira found his grey eyes connecting with the bluenette’s. 

“Wouldn’t you get nervous if it was just the two of us?” Ann asked, her voice shaking slightly.

“She wanted us to be here,” Akira added on dryly, blinking slowly at the blue haired teen. Then, without warning, Kitagawa turned to the girl to Akira’s left, his eyes glittering ever so slightly. 

“I shall ask you one last time: would you model alongside Takamaki-san?”

Akira glanced over to see his best friend staring up at him. Panic was clearly setting in on her face, her eyes wavering as they asked him, “What do I do?”. Akira found a growl forming in his throat, but before he could turn back towards Kitagawa, he saw Sumire’s eyes turn pleading, almost asking him to just stay calm.

“She doesn’t want to do it, dude.” Seemingly out of nowhere, Ryuji spoke up. Kitagawa’s eyes darted onto the blond, his face scrunching into dull irritation once more.

“I believe I did not ask you,” he responded calmly before returning his gaze onto Sumire. “It is quite all right if you do not wish to do so, I simply wish to ask once more.”  
“I…” Sumire began, and Akira found his eyes being pulled over to her once more to see her hands attempting to play with her tights. “I don’t want to do it…”

“Ah, I knew that would be your answer,” Kitagawa said in resignation, and he quickly turned and sat down in front of the large canvas. “Now that we have that matter out of the way, let us begin, Takamaki-san. If you may please sit down.”

Ann did as she was told, crossing her legs and resting her head on her closed fist, and Akira noticed an immediate shift in the blue haired teen’s demeanor. Any previous irritation that was written across his face was gone, leaving only a mystical, focused energy to radiate off his face as he stared at the blank canvas. Then, in one motion, Kitagawa plucked a pencil from the small rack at the bottom of his work area and began drawing. 

“Hmm… Yes… There… And there…” 

“Hey…” Ann muttered, but it was clear to Akira that Kitagawa was not paying her any mind as he continued to mutter to himself. Though, Ann tried once again to talk with him. “Kitagawa-kun?”

“Yo, dude,” Ryuji waved over at Kitagawa, but didn’t get any response either. “You hear her?”

“Don’t bother,” Akira stated, shaking his head. Kitagawa’s gaze never broke away from his canvas nor did the intense level of concentration leave his eyes. 

“This isn’t what we planned! We were gonna catch him off guard and ma–”

“Morgana, be quiet,” Akira grunted as he crossed his legs and arms, and he immediately felt Sumire’s gaze on him before he saw it from the corner of his eyes. “What’s wrong, Sumire?”

“We can just ask him after he’s done, right?” she asked. Akira glanced over to see her head tilted to the side.

“Yeah, that’s all we can do.” Akira moved his eyes back onto Kitagawa, who remained entirely unperturbed. 

“Maybe I should look around…” Morgana muttered from Akira’s bag underneath his chair.

“Don’t get caught,” Akira responded, keeping his eyes steady.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” With a slight rustle underneath him, Akira felt Morgana get out of his bag and walk underneath his chair, and he saw the black cat slink out of the room out of the corner of his eyes.

‘This is going nowhere,’ Akira thought, gritting his teeth as he watched Kitagawa’s hand flow across his portrait. ‘It’s useless anyways. We could be preparing for his Palace right now.’

Try as he might, the irritation continued to build and build within Akira’s chest, creasing his face into a frown and tightening his fists. The main thing keeping him from walking out was Sumire, and he knew that. Either way, he knew there was a plan, and he wasn’t going to be the one to screw it up for them.

“Ugh…” Breaking from his thoughts, Akira blinked slowly to see Kitagawa staring downwards. His shoulders were slumped forward, his elbows resting on his thighs.

“You all done?” Ryuji asked, but Kitagawa shook his head.

“It’s no good…”

“Huh?” Sumire uttered as Ryuji got to his feet.

“Whaddaya mean?” he asked.

“Is it because of me?” Ann broke her pose as she looked over at Kitagawa. Akira held back a sigh, instead closing his eyes. 

“No, not at all. It’s just…” Kitagawa began, and Akira heard the despair in his voice. “I can’t seem to focus today. I apologize, but we will need to continue this another day.”

“Is something wrong?” Sumire questioned.

“It’s… It’s nothing.” Akira reopened his eyes to see Kitagawa staring at the ground, completely distraught. However, something else caught his eyes as Ryuji sprung to his feet.

“Oh hell no! You didn’t make us wait all that time for nothin’!” he shouted, and he and Kitagawa made eye contact as the latter wore a face of utter confusion. Before he could ask anything, though, Akira pushed himself to his feet; he needed to step in before things went south.

“We’re interested in those rumors about Madarame,” Akira began, his eyes connecting with Kitagawa’s immediately, and he watched as he immediately became suspicious.

“This again…” Kitagawa got to his feet, still staring Akira dead in the eyes.

“Kitagawa-kun, that painting that I saw at the exhibit…” Ann began, drawing Kitagawa’s gaze from Akira. “You’re the one who actually painted that, right?”  
Akira watched as Kitagawa clutched his chest weakly and averted his eyes. “That’s…” 

“He’s just usin’ you, man,'' Ryuji took a step towards Kitagawa. “I’ll make this clear right now: there’s no point in hidin’ anything from us. Madarame doesn’t give a damn whether he steals his pupil’s work or physically beats them.”

Small, nervous chuckles escaped Kitagawa’s mouth as he continued staring downwards. “I have no idea what you’re talking about…”

“You couldn’t go against him, could you?” Ann asked, stepping forward next to Ryuji. “We can probably help you out though…”

“Stop it.” Kitagawa looked upwards, and Akira saw a desperation in his eyes that came from seemingly nowhere. “It’s just as you say. We’re… our sensei’s ‘artwork.’”

“So you admit it,” Akira stated, but Kitagawa shook his head immediately. 

“Do not misunderstand me. I offered him my ideas, and as such it cannot be called plagiarism.” Akira’s eyes narrowed as he watched Kitagawa look downwards again, clearly gritting his teeth. “He is simply suffering from artist’s block right now.”  
“But… that still doesn’t make it right for him to use your art,” Sumire spoke up from beside Akira, and his eyes met hers as he looked down at her. “Right, Senpai?”

Akira simply nodded; he didn’t care about the matter at all. If anything, it was just wasting their time when they could be exploring the Palace more.

“Dude, then why’re you sticking around?” Ryuji nearly shouted. “All his other pupils left! Aren’t you the only one left?”

“What’s wrong with me helping out my master?!” Kitagawa burst forward, the desperation on his face growing deeper. “There are no victims here! Stop pushing your self-centered righteousness on me!”

“You’re a coward,” Akira said calmly as he kept his back straight, the words tumbling out of his mouth naturally. Kitagawa’s head shot over towards him, his eyes firing daggers at Akira, but he simply kept his bored gaze steady. “You know what he’s doing, but don’t care that he’s doing it. For what? Because he raised you?”  
“That’s precisely why!” Kitagawa swiped his hand in front of him, narrowly missing Akira’s face. Silence fell within the room as their gazes battled against one another’s. That is, until Kitagawa blinked and sat back down onto his stool. “You four… leave me. We are done speaking, and never come here again or I will sue you for causing a disturbance.”   
“Hold it! We’re not done talkin’ here!” Ryuji exclaimed, and Akira realized too late what was happening as Kitagawa got back to his feet and turned back towards them.

“Fine, you leave me no choice,” he began, an eerily calm tone in his voice as he pulled out his phone. “I’m reporting you to the police.”

“What?” Ryuji, Sumire, and Ann all shouted, and Ryuji slammed his foot on the ground. “Why?!”

“I believe I only asked Takamaki-san here, and you,” Kitagawa stared directly at Sumire,” did not wish to model for me. None of you three were called here today!”

“What the ‘eff, man?!” Ryuji continued stomping on the ground, baring his teeth at the artist, but Ann stepped forward towards him.   
“Ryuji, stop it!” she shouted, and Ryuji took a slow step backwards, gritting his teeth as he forced his hands into his pockets. “Kitagawa-kun, please calm down.”

“Very well, I will not call the police. On one condition,” Kitagawa nodded towards Ann, “I wish for you to continue being my model.”

“But I thought you said it wasn’t working today…” Ann trailed off.

“That’s because I was unconsciously being modest for your sake,” Kitagawa began, and Akira noticed an excited smile playing onto his face and frowned. “However, I have nothing to worry about anymore. If you’re willing to bare everything to me… I will put my heart and soul into creating the best nude painting ever!”

“Nude?!” Ann immediately screeched, recoiling backwards with an immediate blush covering her face. 

“W-What?!” Sumire shouted, and Akira’s head swiveled towards her to see pure shock on her face. 

“Ah, to think I’d be able to create a nude painting with my most ideal model…” Kitagawa muttered to himself, but then quickly looked upwards. Akira realized that he was staring at Sumire, and he instantly placed himself in front of her, his eyes growing deadly serious behind his glasses. “I recognize she does not wish to model, and I shall respect her wish. Though, you three will not be allowed in, and I ask that you all forget about the conversation we shared.”

“W-Wait a minute!” Akira glanced over to see Ann’s face still beet red, her eyes wide open with shock and her body tense.

“Is there a problem?” Kitagawa asked, tilting his head to the side.  
“Y-Yes there’s a problem!” Ann shouted, her voice shaking. “Why’re things escalating so quickly?!”

“Because those are my terms,” Kitagawa stated simply, a slight smile on his face. “Sensei is out during the afternoon while the art exhibit is on, so I can use this place freely…”

“Wait just a moment!” 

“Another one?” Kitagawa sighed, stopping himself as he was turning around, and stared back at Ann.

“I do NOT want to model nude! I refuse to!”

“W-What?!” To Akira, it sounded as if Kitagawa’s life had fallen apart in that one moment, and based on the look on his face, it very well might have. “But I had everything planned out! It would have been glorious!”

“Well, I said no! I’m willing to model for you, but not nude!” Ann stomped her foot on the ground defiantly, and Kitagawa looked down at the ground. 

“Then I will have to report you all.” Pulling out his phone, Kitagawa let out a sigh.

“W-Wait! Isn’t there anything else?” Sumire shouted from behind Akira, and he glanced back to see her peering around his body. Kitagawa’s gaze was directed towards Akira and Sumire, his phone still in hand but clearly an afterthought as his eyes narrowed. Then, his entire fast lit up, and he took an excited step forward towards the two. Sumire instantly grabbed hold of Akira’s back, and Akira widened his stance to block her from the bluenette once again. “I-I d-don’t want to do that eith–”

“If Takamaki is not willing to bare it all for me, then I shall have you two model for me!” 

Akira froze in place; he wasn’t hearing things wrong, was he? His ears worked just fine, so Kitagawa must have been talking about someone else. Why the hell would he want him to model?

“Wait, what?” Ryuji’s confused voice drew Akira’s attention, and he saw the blond was just as confused as he was. “You want ‘em both?”

“Indeed I do,” Kitagawa nodded, and before Akira could even react he saw Kitagawa bend over, excitement flashing across his face once again. “I have seen… No, I felt it within you two from the moment I laid eyes upon you; the overwhelming care you have for one another, the protectiveness you both exude. I swear to you both, I shall paint your grand relationship for everyone to see!”

“O-Our r-r-relationship?!” Sumire stumbled upwards to stand next to Akira, and the sight of her only deepened his immense confusion. Why was she blushing so much? Her eyes were darting everywhere except for Akira, but he figured there were more pressing matters as he turned his eyes back towards Kitagawa. 

“Yes, that is my desire, and my final conditions. If you two do not accept, I will call the police on all of you,” Kitagawa nodded, though the giddy look on his face did not match his threats at all. Akira tried to take a step forward, to scowl at Kitagawa; something to change the situation he was now in, but to no avail. His body wouldn’t do what he wanted; was there anything he could do?

“S-Senpai, w-what are you thinking?” Sumire stuttered, her voice barely reaching Akira as he stared back at Kitagawa.

“Of course, I shall grant you two the same amount of time as Takamaki-san. I am willing to wait, but please come before the exhibit ends.” Nodding to himself, Kitagawa began to turn away, but stopped himself just short as he turned back towards Akira. “Ah wait, I do not have your contact information. If you may…”

“Akira, what’s your call dude?” Ryuji whispered, but Akira didn’t know. At all. He expected a lot of outcomes from this meeting, but this? This was NOT one of them. 

‘Do… Do I even have a choice?’ Akira thought, slowly moving his head to look at his teammates staring back at him. Sumire’s face was entirely red, Ryuji was leaning towards him, but Ann… She was staring at him with an almost pleading look on her face. With a sigh, Akira reached down into his pocket and procured his phone and, with his teeth clenched, he showed Kitagawa his contact information.

“Thank you! Again, I will work around your two’s schedule, but I will need to have it done by the end of the exhibit,” Kitagawa nodded excitedly, almost like a little puppy, while he slid his phone back into his pocket. “Thank you…”

“Kurusu,” Akira responded, finally able to find his voice.

“U-Um, Y-Yoshizawa…” Sumire added, and Akira could feel just how close she was to him without needing to look down.

“Thank you, Kurusu-kun, Yoshizawa-san,” Kitagawa bowed before turning on his heels. “That will be all for today. I hope to see you contact me soon.”

Akira blinked once, then twice at the back of the teenaged artist before his head filled with numerous thoughts shook from side to side. He couldn’t believe what had just happened, but there wasn’t anything he could do now except turn and walk out of the room. Almost in a daze-like state, Akira wandered throughout the house, barely registering that Morgana had returned and had been placed forcefully into his bag. 

“Senpai!” 

“...Hm?” Akira slowly refocused his eyes to realize that he was now outside and by the railing on the other side of the street. It then took a moment for him to see that everyone’s eyes were on him, with Sumire inches in front of him and staring directly upwards. Her crimson eyes were wide with concern beneath her glasses, though Akira still noticed a small blush adorning her smooth cheeks.

“Are… Are you okay?” Sumire asked timidly, keeping eye contact with Akira as it seemed impossible for him to pull his gaze away from hers.

“Yeah dude, it’s like you went into another place for a sec there,” Ryuji added off to the side.“So… are you two really gonna model for him?”

Sumire’s chin instantly dropped, panic setting in on her face as well as another blush flared across her cheeks.“U-Um…” 

“It’s either that or Ann has to bare to Yusuke,” Ryuji folded his arms, and Akira could see him barely holding back a smirk.

“W-What?!” Ann exclaimed, recoiling backwards. “I am NOT doing that!” However, Ryuji waved her off before turning back towards Akira and Sumire.

“I know, I know,” Ryuji said. “I mean, we can prolly just change Madarame’s heart, and then none of us have to model for him.” 

Taking in a deep breath, Akira nodded, finally finding his voice. “Not a bad idea.”

“But Kitagawa-kun thinks he owes his life to him. Is there a need to make Madarame confess?” Ann looked downwards as her face scrunched up slightly, but Akira shook his head.

“We know who Madarame is and what he thinks of him,” Akira firmly stated as he straightened himself.

“Yeah, Akira’s right,” Ryuji nodded as he leaned forward. “That asshole’s just usin’ Yusuke, who doesn’t have any parents. Are you tellin’ me that we should just ignore how he’s bein’ treated horribly just like the other pupils?”

“I agree with Akira-senpai and Ryuji-se… Ryuji,” Sumire began, turning around to face Ann. “We can’t turn away after knowing what we do now, Ann.”

“Yeah, you guys are right…” Ann trailed off, scratching the back of her head. “It’s frustrating to leave this alone, even if Kitagawa-kun is fine with it himself.”

“I doubt he’s fine with it,” Akira found himself saying, all eyes shooting back onto him once again, and he let out a miniscule sigh. “He acknowledged that his work is being used by Madarame, and got defensive when we pushed him too far. There’s just nothing he feels he can do himself.”

“Yeah, I think you might be right, Akira,” Morgana spoke from Akira’s shoulder. “Either way, I agree that we need to change Madarame’s heart.”

“Hell yeah!” Ryuji exclaimed, and Akira instantly felt back in control as he shot a sharp glance over towards the blond that instantly calmed him down. “Oh yeah, Miss President’s keepin’ an eye on us, and it’ll be a pain if she finds us on the rooftop again. Let’s see…”

“How about the Teikyu Building Accessway in Shibuya?” Sumire suggested.

“The what?” Ryuji stared blankly back at her before realization hit and covered his entire face. “Ohh, that walkway thing we went through the other day. Yeah, that could work!”  
“Changing our hideout periodically, huh? Not a bad plan, Ryuji and Sumire,” Morgana meowed approvingly from Akira’s bag, and Akira nodded. However, he spun around suddenly as he heard a light sound of footsteps approaching from behind him, making sure to put himself in front of Sumire.

“Whoa, no need to be all jumpy. I just want to talk for a sec,” a young woman said, and Akira loosened only slightly as he felt Sumire completely calm behind him. This new woman had short black hair with a pair of sunglasses resting atop her head, and she had a fairly large camera hanging around her neck. “From the looks of things, you don’t seem like the ordinary, stalking fans.”

“Get to the point,” Akira growled, but he was met with a warm smile from the woman.

“Oh, sorry. I guess I should have led with that first, huh?” she waited for a second, clearly expecting another response, but Akira kept his glare leveled at her and consistent. “Well, I’m actually looking for people that know Madarame’s pupils. There’s this painting, ‘Sayuri,’ that was supposedly stolen in the past. But there’s this rumor that it was taken by one of his pupils in retaliation for being abused. Have you heard anything about that?”

“No,” Akira coldly replied.

“I see…” the woman sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “I can’t write a case with zero proof of abuse, and there’s no case without a victim… Looks like I’m back to square one.” Not allowing Akira any time to respond, the woman approached him with a piece of paper appearing in her hand after reaching briefly into her pocket. “I’m a journalist. Contact me if you get any leads, okay? Thanks!”

Then, as soon as she came, she left without another word, leaving Akira with a piece of paper in his hand. 

“Senpai, should we go home for today?” Sumire asked before Akira could get too confused, and he just nodded.

* * *

_Hey, if you’re reading this… Sorry I haven’t been giving you any leads. But recently I’ve been contacted by someone who’s received a change of heart. He wants to meet with you today to discuss someone else who needs a change of heart. He’s going to be waiting in the Shibuya Station after school, okay? And his name is Nakanohara. Oh! Also, I’ve both read on the Phan-site and heard around in school about a brown haired bully named Daisuke Takanashi. You’re the only one who can handle this, so thanks in advance!_

_From, Mishima._

“Senpai, why doesn’t he just come up and talk with you? He seems to already know.” Sumire’s face was scrunched up as Akira was given back the torn piece of paper, which he stuck back into his pocket.

“I have no clue,” Akira shrugged.  
“So, we’re going to go talk with Nakanohara?” Sumire asked, shifting in her seat on the train.

“I was heading towards the station, but he may have good intel,” Akira replied, doing yet another scan of the crowded train car which resulted with nothing interesting. The shifting to his left drew his attention, and he saw Sumire staring up at him.

“Senpai, do you think what Ryuji-senpai texted us last night was true? About… one of Madarame’s pupils committing suicide?”

“It might be,” Akira replied, and regretted it immediately. Sumire’s face had fallen, her eyebrows lowering as her usually bright eyes dulled. Cursing himself internally, Akira’s mind raced for a way to rectify the situation, but nothing was coming to him.

“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have brought that up right now, should I?” Sumire shook her heavy head, which only made Akira grit his teeth even more. Nothing he could say or do would change the mood of the conversation, and he knew that. “Actually, Senpai? Do… Do you think there are other victims like that to–”

However, the train began slowing, cutting Sumire off as the roar of the crowd picked up once again. Not wanting to get trapped in it, Akira nearly jumped to his feet and moved quickly to the doors, Sumire following close beside him. It didn’t take very long for him to pick out the sight of two familiar blond heads from the crowd, and he and Sumire stopped directly in front of Ryuji and Ann standing next to a pillar.

“Yo,” Ryuji turned towards them and waved.

“We’re about to head to the hideout,” Ann stated. Nodding, Akira nearly began to move forward, but stopped. Someone was rushing towards him, he could tell just from the sound of the footsteps. Looking backwards, Akira confirmed his suspicions.

“Senpai, that’s…” Sumire began, but Akira cut her off with a curt nod.

“Excuse me…” Nakanohara began. His eyes were dark and subdued beneath his glasses, a far cry from the wildness of his Shadow. “...My name is Nakanohara. Natsuhiko Nakanohara, the one who was posted about on the Phantom Aficionado Website.”

“Senpai, he seems… not like a stalker,” Sumire whispered, needing to get onto her tiptoes to reach his ear. “Do you think the change of heart worked?”

“Yeah,” Akira responded just as quietly, keeping his eyes on Nakanohara.

“The administrator of that website contacted me… They told me to look for someone in a Shujin uniform with a cat…”

“What do you want?” Akira attempted to keep his voice non-threatening, but he could tell he failed as Nakanohara looked down at the ground. However, the man quickly looked back up, a new sense of purpose suddenly filling his eyes.

“You may have heard, but there’s someone I wish to trigger a change of heart in. An artist by the name of Madarame.”

“Hey, d’ya think this is it? Is the pupil gonna confess his master’s secrets?” Ryuji whispered not so silently to Ann, but they both straightened as Akira glanced over at them with his eyes shaped in a razor sharp glare.

“I’m… one of Madarame’s former pupils,” Nakanohara continued on. “He gave me lodging at his home, where I only thought about art. I genuinely wanted to become an artist… There was another man as well. A very talented man, multiple years my senior.” Akira watched as Nakanohara’s face darkened and turned downwards. “Obviously, Madarame kept tabs on him. Everything he made was claimed a Madarame original. He wasn’t the only victim though…”

“All right, we got some real proof on the plagiarism,” Ryuji muttered, which Akira let slide as Nakanohara let out a heavy sigh.

“In response to Madarame’s actions… that senior pupil committed suicide.”

A gasp came from Akira’s right, and he immediately spun towards Sumire to see her face pale and her mouth covered by her hand. Without thinking, Akira laid a hand onto her shoulder and made eye contact with her. “It’s okay, Sumire,” Akira whispered, and all the girl did was nod as they turned back towards Nakanohara, who seemed to not pay them any mind.

“He must have been unable to bear seeing his work praised under Madarame’s name. That was why I disobeyed Madarame’s orders and left. However, he pulled some strings in the art world, and my life as a painter was destroyed. I tried turning a new leaf by working at a ward office, but it was no use. My attachment to art spiraled and affected my emotions, and I soon began getting attached to everything. So much so that I became a stalker… haha…” The man shook his head, seeming to be on the verge of tears. Akira’s attention was split between Nakanohara and Sumire, the latter seeming to be calming down yet still very much shaken, but luckily Nakanohara didn’t notice or care as he looked up. “Please, make Madarame have a change of heart. Not only for me. It’s… to save the life of another man as well.”

“Who?” Akira asked, releasing Sumire’s shoulder as she looked back up at Nakanohara.  
“I do not know his name, but he still remains under Madarame’s tutelage. I believe he is around your age.   
“S-Senpai…” Sumire’s voice was shaky and quiet, but it was loud enough for Akira to turn his attention fully onto her. “He’s talking about Kitagawa-kun, isn’t he?”

“He is,” Akira nodded, and he felt the surprised gazes of the two blondes as he stared back at Nakanohara.

“I actually have spoken to him a few times, back when I was living at Madarame’s house. I asked him if he found it painful to stay with Madarame. He responded with, ‘If I could leave, I would.’”

“Kitagawa-kun…” Ann muttered to herself, shifting nervously where she stood.

“I have no right to say this given my previous cowardice, but I don’t want to see another suicide! Please think of this young man when considering about changing Madarame’s heart.” With a nod, Nakanohara left the five Thieves alone.

“We’ve been asked to act directly by one of Madarame’s victims,” Morgana said, popping from Akira’s bag as he and Sumire turned towards the two blondes. “We don’t have time to deliberate whether or not to change his heart.”

“Yeah, and it seems like Akira was right about Yusuke,” Ryuji added, nodding towards Akira. However, Akira was too focused on Sumire, who was staring directly downwards and slowly clenching and unclenching her skirt.

“Sumire, are you okay?” Akira asked firmly, but the girl didn’t seem to hear him, so he lifted his left hand and gently dropped it back onto her shoulder.

“A-Ah!” she yelped, her head flying over to face Akira.

“Are you okay, Sumire?” Ann asked again for Akira, concern deep within her voice.

“Yeah, you kinda freaked out when that guy mentioned suicide,” Ryuji added on, and instantly Akira’s cold eyes flew onto the blond as Sumire’s face fell again.

“I-I…” Sumire began, but she was choking on her words and her lips were trembling, so Akira stepped forward.

“We all agree on targeting him now, right?”

“Hell yeah!” Ryuji pumped his fist in front of him.

“I would never let Kitagawa-kun commit suicide!” Ann exclaimed, and Akira saw Sumire give a tiny nod to his left.

“Well, it sure seems unanimous. Let’s go discuss this further at our new hideout,” Morgana said before diving back into Akira’s bag, and the two blondes nodded and turned immediately. However, when Akira began to move after them, he immediately noticed that Sumire wasn’t by his side, and he turned around to see her still staring downwards.

“Sumire, we need to go,” Akira stated, moving back towards the girl. When he reached his unresponsive best friend, though, her hand moved upwards and clutched onto his sleeve. “Sumire?”

“S-Senpai… I…” Akira’s heart slowed drastically as Sumire moved her head back up. Tears were welling within her eyes, her lips were trembling; he couldn’t just leave her like that. No thoughts held Akira back as his free hand moved up onto Sumire’s shoulder, his thumb reassuringly brushed across it as soon as his hand landed.

“You’re thinking about Kasumi, aren’t you?” Akira asked quietly, and for a moment Sumire simply stared at him, her tears still flowing slowly down her face, before she nodded. 

“I-I know I’m weak, S-Senpai… And that I-I should be focused on M-Madarame right now, b-but…”

“Sumire,” Akira interrupted her, forcing as much reassurance into his voice as he could. “I know what you’re going through. If you don’t feel like you can go in today, that’s alright. We have time, Sumire.”

Sumire blinked slowly at Akira, and he could see her tears drying with every passing moment. Her sadness, her fear also dissipated from her face, and, watching Sumire take a deep breath in, Akira saw Sumire’s eyes filled with a renewed sense of purpose. “No, I-I’m okay, Senpai.”

After a brief moment of pause, Akira nodded. “Good, now let’s get goin–”

“Hey, are we gonna go catch up with those two?” Morgana popped out of Akira’s bag, setting his paws onto Akira’s shoulder. “Hm? What were you two talking about?”  
“It’s nothing,” Akira shook his head, and, gently turning Sumire around, led her forward towards their new hideout.

“Yo, what took you two so long?” Ryuji called out as Akira and Sumire approached the two blondes, and instantly Akira noticed a blush covering Sumire’s face.

“Nothing,” Akira shook his head, but to his further confusion Ann grinned at him and Sumire. “What?”

However, Ann shook her head, though her grin persisted. “No, it’s nothing at all.”

“...Whatever, let’s just go in,” Akira said, pulling out his phone, when two paws landed on his shoulder once again.

“Wait! Give me some time to prepare first!” Morgana meowed as Akira found his place against the railing. He just nodded, allowing the cat to jump out of his bag and onto the railing right above where Ryuji was sitting

“Hey Morgana, I actually got a question before we go into the Palace,” Ryuji began. “Madarame doesn’t know we’re doin’ stuff in his Palace yet. Why’s he already treatin’ us like criminals?”

“Very good, Ryuji! You’re learning!” Morgana nodded approvingly. “It must be because he doesn’t trust anyone. Any unknown person may as well be an enemy.”

“Or he may just be super salty about all those rumors about him online,” Ann added, and Akira figured enough time had passed and pulled his phone back up once again.

“Are we ready?” he asked, mainly to Sumire as the two made eye contact.

“Hell yeah I am!” Ryuji was the first to answer as he jumped to his feet.

“Yeah, let’s do this!” Ann exclaimed.

“I’m all good,” Morgana nodded, and Akira’s eyes remained set on Sumire. Her eyes glittering with a set determination, Sumire stood tall in front of Akira.

“Let’s go, Senpai.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya all, I'm back with another long chapter! I hope you enjoyed this one, especially the twist to Yusuke's demands. I enjoyed putting that in, and do plan on doing quite a bit with it when the time comes. Thank you all, and I hope to see you in the next chapter!


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